State wants to freeze Mandago bank accounts over Finland airlift saga

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) is seeking to freeze bank accounts belonging to Uasin Gishu Senator Jackson Mandago and his co-accused in the Finland and Canada airlift scandal.

Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Hassan Abdi told the court on Thursday August 18 that he intends to file a formal application seeking to freeze their bank accounts and preserving their assets pending the hearing and determination of the case.

"The prosecution is requesting the court to impose strict bail conditions on the accused persons considering the [huge] amount of money involved and the charges against the accused persons, the court must also ensure that the accused persons attend court," Mr Abdi said in his submissions to the court.

"We will, in due course, make a formal application for the seizure of the accused persons' assets and the freezing of their bank accounts. We want to ensure that, if they are found guilty, the amount is recovered to compensate the affected families,” Mr Abdi added.

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If the application is successful, the court will issue a preservation order prohibiting the sale, transfer or disposal of any property belonging to the accused.

It will also freeze the accounts of the accused pending the hearing and determination of the case.

The ODPP wants to freeze their bank accounts on suspicion that some of the money allegedly siphoned from the Uasin Gishu County Education Revolving Fund ended up in their personal accounts.

Yesterday, Senator Mandago and his co-accused were released on a Sh2 million bond each with an alternative of Sh500,000 cash bail after denying charges of stealing the Sh1.1 billion meant for the overseas scholarship programme for students from various parts of Uasin Gishu County.

Nakuru Senior Principal Magistrate Alloys Ndege granted bail to Mr Mandago and two former county officials — Joshua Lelei and Meshack Rono — after they denied 10 counts of theft, forgery and abuse of office.

The three pleaded to the charges after the court lifted its earlier orders to postpone the taking of their pleas due to the absence of another suspect, Mr Joseph Maritim, who is said to be out of the country.

The prosecution informed the court that it had amended the charge sheet to exclude Mr Maritim from the case.

The court also imposed conditions prohibiting the suspects from interfering with witnesses in any way.

In the amended charge sheet, Mr Mandago, Mr Lelei and Mr Rono were jointly accused of conspiring to steal Sh1.1 billion from a Kenya Commercial Bank account registered under the Uasin Gishu Education Trust Fund and meant for paying university fees for students through the Uasin Gishu County Airlift Programme to Finland and Canada.

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The offences were committed on various dates between March 1, 2021 and September 12 , 2021. Senator Mandago faced two separate charges of abuse of office, where he is alleged to have arbitrarily entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with several universities in Finland and Canada on behalf of the Uasin Gishu County Government without a resolution of the Uasin Gishu County Assembly.

He is also alleged to have arbitrarily seconded county staff to a private entity, the Uasin Gishu Overseas Education Trust, thereby illegally drawing salaries from the county government.

Mr Rono and Mr Lelei are charged with forgery, where they are accused of forging trust declaration documents purporting to be genuine with intent to defraud. The case will be heard on October 2.

Mr Mandago and his two co-accused spent Wednesday night at Nakuru Central Police Station after they were arrested on Wednesday evening.

Mr Mandago, Mr Rono and Mr Lelei surrendered to the police early Wednesday morning following a warrant of arrest issued by a Nakuru court.