Ex-CS Rashid Echesa out on Sh2m bond, to appear before DCI
Former Cabinet Secretary for Sports Rashid Echesa.
What you need to know:
- Echesa directed to present himself before DCI on April 22 for interrogation and statements recording.
- The former CS is currently battling a Sh39 million fake arms deal case.
Former Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa has been freed on Sh2million bond after being arrested for his alleged role in extortion ring of Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa.
Justice Diana Kavedza directed lawyer Danstan Omari that Echesa present himself before DCI on April 22 for interrogation and statements recording.
Echesa who is also the chairperson of the Kenya Water Towers Agency, was arrested and initially taken to Muthaiga Police Station over charges of extortion and stage-managing an abduction.
His lawyer, Mr Danstan Omari did not divulge more details regarding the matter.
The arrest came after a man was charged before a Kibera court with extorting Sh240 million from Kakamega governor Fernandes Barasa.
Mr William Simiyu Matere alias Elijah was presented before Kibera Senior Principal magistrate Ann Mwangi. The accused denied the two counts of conspiracy to commit a felony.
The charge sheet stated that Mr Matere, jointly with others not before court, conspired to commit a felony, an offence they allegedly committed on diverse dates between December 2023 and March 18, 2024.
The court was informed that the accused person and his accomplices demanded with menaces and extorted from Mr Barasa a sum of Sh240 million.
The accused was freed after depositing a bond of Sh2 million with a surety of the same amount.
Mr Echesa is currently battling a Sh39 million fake arms deal case before a Nairobi court and has twice failed to appear before the trial magistrate allegedly because he has been unwell.
The former CS was acquitted in December 2021 after the trial court ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges against him and others, only for the High Court to overturn the decision.
