Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) officials load computers into a vehicle outside KEMSA Headquarters
Detectives from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) on Wednesday morning raided the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA) Headquarters in Nairobi in their usual dramatic fashion.
According to reports, the officers cordoned off the premises in the raid at the commercial street offices and limited the movement of staff and visitors in and out of the premises.
They later seized mobile phones, computers, extracted data, and carted away files which they felt may assist them in the ongoing probe against the agency.
The officers took away more items following a long search inside the acting CEO Edward Njoroge Njuguna’s office whom they also arrested that same morning over allegations that non-existent drugs and equipment could have been procured during his reign as the operations director, where he previously served.
Njoroge had been appointed by the board after the suspension of its Chief Executive Jonah Manjari and two directors, Charles Juma (procurement) and Eliud Muriithi (commercial) to allow for the investigations into claims of corruption in COVID-19 procurements and related issues.
Deleted files
Hours after the raid at Enterprise Road, Nairobi, it has now emerged that crucial procurement documents were found to have been erased from the agency’s records.
A source privy to the investigations speaking through a Nairobi daily on Thursday revealed that email messages crucial to the probe had been deleted at the procurement department.
Some of them are believed to show which companies were awarded the tenders and at what price.
This hardly comes as a surprise given how long it took before authorities finally acted upon the scam which exploded through the media.
With knowledge of being under probe, the suspects could obviously not have left all the incriminating documents and wait for EACC.
KEMSA, in a statement thereafter by the public relations and communications manager Elizabeth Mwai, confirmed the raid, saying the EACC officers took possession of certain documents, electronic data, and gadgets.
Following their promise that there will be no sacred cow spared in the investigation of the multi-billion shilling scandal, at least five politicians, top government officials, and directors of 50 companies linked to the scam are expected to be quizzed at EACC headquarters.
The anti-graft agency is understood to be currently pursuing politicians from both the ruling Jubilee party and the Opposition over the matter.
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