Two Homa Bay county officials and a former county assembly clerk were arrested by EACC detectives on Monday on charges of defrauding the county of up to Sh85 million.
They were arrested alongside three other directors of companies that received the suspect irregular payments from the regional assembly.
EACC said former assembly clerk Bob Kephas Otieno, chief finance officer Caroline Chepkemoi Sang, senior accounts controller Maurice Amek, Eveline Awino Ogutu, David Obonyo Mireri, and Lilian Achieng Aloo would be arraigned on Tuesday.
They will be charged with conspiracy to commit an economic crime contrary to section 47A (3) Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act, abuse of office, and unlawful acquisition of public property.
Other charges they will face include; Dealing with suspect property, stealing and money laundering.
RECEIVED PAYMENTS
EACC CEO Twalib Mbarak said investigations by the agency established that the employees are also directors or are directly linked to the companies suspected to have received payments from the county.
The said individuals are accused of receiving county cash through companies trading as Nyangume Enterprises and Damila Enterprises for no supplies made to the county.
“Whereas the individuals irregularly received multiple monthly salary payments, the companies received large value remittances with insignificant supporting documents,” Twalib said.
He said EACC investigations established that Nyangume Enterprises is owned by Kephas’ wife while Damila is owned by David Obonyo a former Equity Bank Homa Bay branch manager.
Nyangume Enterprises received Sh26.2 million, while Damila received Sh46.5 million from Homa Bay County Assembly accounts, yet they did not deliver any goods or services to the county.
EACC said its probe revealed that Kephas received Sh24.2 million from Damila and another Sh750,000 from Nyangume.
Lilian Aloo, the wife of the former Equity Bank branch manager, received Sh12.4 million from the county narrated as salary yet she was not an employee of the county.
Sang and Amek, for their part, received Sh3.95 million and Sh5 million respectively from Damila Enterprises as benefits.
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