Waititu got Sh25m kickback from road tender, court told

Former Kiambu governor Ferdinand Waititu pocketed Sh25.6 million in bribes from a contractor who was fraudulently awarded a road tender by the county government in 2018, a court heard yesterday.

Senior Principal Magistrate Thomas Nzioki heard that the former county boss received the money from Testimony Enterprises Ltd, which had been awarded a Sh588 million tender. The court further heard that the procurement staff ignored the professional opinion of the head of supply chain.

“The procurement bid documents submitted by Testimony Enterprises were forgeries. Mr Waititu... had an interest in the said tender,” State counsel Joseph Riungu told the court while opening hearing of the graft case at the Milimani Law Courts.

The court heard that the company had been irregularly contracted to undertake upgrading of various gravelled roads in Limuru, Gatundu North, Thika, Juja and Ruiru sub-counties.

Mr Riungu told the court that a large sum of money was given to entities associated with Mr Waititu, his wife and daughter.

To demonstrate how the former governor benefited from the fraudulent tender, the prosecutor hanged a chart in court showing the movement of money from the county government to Mr Waititu’s firms.

The diagram indicated that Sh221,490,499 was moved from the county government to Testimony Enterprises whose directors are Mr Charles Chege and his wife Beth Wangechi. The amount was moved in 42 transactions between April 6, 2018 and March 11, 2019.

The contractor also wired Sh8,410,500 in eight transactions to Saika Two Estate Developers Ltd and Sh6 million in two transactions to Lake Naivasha Resort, which had sold Bien Venue Hotel to the former governor.

Received Sh5.2 million

Bien Venue also received Sh5.2 million from Testimony Enterprises. A further Sh134,008,620 was moved in 33 transactions from Testimony Enterprises to the account of Mr Charles Chege, who later deposited Sh2 million to Bien Venue Hotel and Sh4 million to Saika Two Estate Developers Ltd.

“Waititu had personal engagement with Mr Chege, who is a director of Testimony Enterprises, which had active contractual engagements with the county government,” said the prosecutor.

Hearing began after the magistrate dismissed an adjournment application by Mr Waititu on grounds that he was unwell.

The former governor turned up for the criminal trial after missing three court proceedings on claims that he was suffering from Covid-19 infection.

However, three doctors appointed by the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board to test him and authenticate his claims were yet to file their report in court.

The doctors attached to Kenyatta National Hospital in a letter had said the former governor needed to undergo a laboratory and imaging tests, a high resolution CT-Scan and a Covid-19 test to confirm his current state of health.

The prosecution has said it will present 69 witnesses to prove the multiple criminal charges facing Mr Waititu and his co-accused.