Court postpones Governor Ali Korane's Sh233m corruption trial

Garissa Governor Ali Bunow Korane

Garissa Governor Ali Bunow Korane at the Milimani Anti-Corruption Court in Nairobi on June 7, 2021.

Photo credit: Dennis Onsongo | Nation Media Group

The trial of Garissa Governor Ali Korane over the alleged misuse of a Sh233 million grant from World Bank will has been adjourned for three weeks.

The hearing started on Monday morning, with a former coordinator for the Kenya Urban Support Programme, Vincent Onyango Ogutu, taking the witness stand.

However, lawyer Issa Mansour, for Mr Korane, asked for an adjournment over document hitches, an application which was allowed by trial magistrate Douglas Ogoti.

Before the case was adjourned, Mr Ogutu told the court that a total of Sh11.4 billion was disbursed to 45 counties to finance infrastructure in urban centres.

The witness had tabled a letter from the National Treasury for the disbursement of the grant for the year 2018/2019.

Mr Korane is charged alongside four county officials.

They have denied eight counts including conspiracy to commit an economic crime, failure to comply with procurement laws relating to management of public funds and misappropriation of public funds.

The other accused persons are Ibrahim Malow Nur, Mohamed Ahmed Abdullahi, Abdi Shale and Ahmed Abdullahi Aden.

It is alleged that they committed the offence between February 25 and September 30, 2019 by mismanaging public funds allocated to Garissa as a conditional grant for the Kenya Urban Support Programme (KUSP).