The taxman has zeroed in on Daniel Wamahiu over unpaid value-added tax and income tax remittance worth close to Sh327 million. Wamahiu, a former chairman of Kenya Pipeline Company is being sought over ownership of several companies that did business with Geothermal Development Company during the 2013 to 2017 financial years. During his tenure at KPLC, the tycoon was involved in suspicious business deals and fronted various firms to win lucrative tenders. The controversial allocation of KPC land to Amaco Insurance was the tycoon brainchild. Wamahiu is a close associate of deputy president William Ruto. He is a frequent visitor at Weston Hotel. His company recently got a multibillion contract with the Kenya Urban Roads Authority. Also under probe is his bank accounts spread across six financial institutions running into billions. It is suspected one of his dollar accounts is used in money laundering.
Daniel Wamahiu
This however was not without drama as some junior officers at Kenya Urban Roads Authority openly complained of the tender award. Weekly Citizen has information, the Kura tenders awarded to Wamahiu were highly inflated forcing a section in procurement to raise eyebrows. The tycoon during the Uhuruto best days was untouchable and boasts to be funding Ruto presidential bid 2022. The businessman has been holding high-level meetings with Nyeri professionals to map out strategies for 2022. He sees himself as the next Nyeri governor or the next Roads and Infrastructure CS or Energy CS if Ruto wins the presidency and forms the next government. The suave businessman has excellent contacts at the top echelons of the Judiciary and is always seen wining and dining with Supreme Court judges, those in Court of Appeal and High Court.
Caroline Karungu
It is not known his interest in associating with judges but many see suspicion. Wamahiu controls most Nyeri MPs who must lie low or he threatens to sponsor opponents in their constituencies. One MP was heard pleading with him to spare him. The first-term MP says he was asked to beg Wamahiu if he expected mercy from him. The cowboy contractor has no time for Governor Mutahi Kahiga whom he says is not educated. The tycoon according to sources has been funding deputy governor Caroline Karungu to undermine her boss. Wamahiu was last week in panic upon learning the government was also investigating Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua on matters relating to money laundering and tax evasion. The MP banks’ accounts were frozen after Assets Recovery Agency petitioned Nairobi Milimani Court.
Rigathi Gachagua
Five companies linked to the MP and his co-directors have been blocked from operating accounts at Rafiki Microfinance Bank. Rigathi operates three accounts at Rafiki Microfinance Bank under his name. His company Wamunyoro Investment named after his family member has two accounts. Not spared are his companies, namely Technical Supplies and Services Kenya Limited. The said firms are accused of siphoning billions of shillings from Nyeri county ever since the heyday of his late brother who was governor then. When his brother was ailing, the MP was a defacto governor and called shots including manipulating the award of tenders. Other companies associated with the MP that are in trouble include Crystal Kenya Limited, Jenne Enterprises and Encartar Diagnostics Limited. They are all operated at Liaison House, along State House Road, according to documents filed in court.
Mutahi Kahiga
The MP is accused of colluding with Nyeri county government officials and the state’s department for irrigation to siphon taxpayers’ money through his companies and that of his proxies. At Nyeri county, Rigathi is said to have employed his henchmen in the procurement department during the reign of his late brother Gachagua as governor. Back to tycoon Wamahiu, he has been desperate to withdraw money from his accounts, raising eyebrows. A member of the Civil Engineering Contractors Association, Wamahiu has registered offshore companies that he claims to hold his 2022 campaign kitty and that of Ruto.
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