Mudavadi did not benefit from cemetery land deal, court told

Former Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi did not benefit from the Sh283 million cemetery land deal, a top investigator has told the anti-corruption court in Nairobi.

Tabu Lwanga, the supervising investigator in the graves land scandal through which the defunct ministry of local government lost the colossal sum, said on Wednesday: “No monies from the alleged illegal deal were deposited in Mr Mudavadi’s accounts.”

Nairobi County chief valuer Isaac Nyoike valued the land in Mavoko, measuring 119.3493 acres, at Sh450 million.

Mr Lwanga had earlier told chief magistrate Doreen Mulekyo that the land was valued by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to be Sh30 million.

Mr Tabu could not, however, explain the discrepancy in the land’s value when he was cross-examined by lawyer Wilfred Nderitu, who is defending Mary Ng’ethe, a former legal director of the defunct City Council of Nairobi.

Ms Ng’ethe is charged alongside former PS Sammy Kirui, former Town Clerk John Gakuo and senior City Hall employee Alexander Musee with abuse of office and authorising the payment of the Sh283 million for the purchase of the land meant for interring the dead in Mavoko in Machakos County.

Ms Mulekyo heard that none of the four accused persons were on the tender committee that handled the purchase of the land.

Re-examined by state prosecutor Edwin Okello, Mr Tabu said: “When we tracked the movement of the cemetery money, [we found that] none went to any of the accounts of Mr Mudavadi, who was then minister for local government.”

“And we never saw his involvement,” he added.

Mrs Mulekyo heard that the Amani National Congress leader recorded a statement with the anti-graft body and shared the information he had about the land deal that caused a hue and cry in 2009.

Mr Lwanga said investigations revealed that two lawyers — Alphonse Mutinda and Paul Onduso — distributed the Sh281,300,000 from the escrow account while another lawyer disbursed Sh117 million.

Shown correspondence between former head of public service Francis Muthaura and Mr Mudavadi, Mr Lwanga said there was no conspiracy between the two to fix the four civil servants.

In the correspondence, Mr Muthaura had directed Mr Mudavadi to furnish him with a list of senior government officers involved in the acquisition of the cemetery land to be pursued with a view to recovering “the huge sums of money lost in the transaction.”

In a letter dated March 1, 2010, Mr Muthaura requested Mr Mudavadi to get the list of those involved from former EACC acting director John Mutonyi then forward them to him “for immediate action”.

Mr Lwanga said the issue was a matter of public interest and that Mr Muthaura wanted to be kept abreast of the issues by Mr Mudavadi.

Defence lawyers will be asking the court to acquit the four on August 30, saying the prosecution has not established any case against them.