MP charged with Sh41m fraud

• Mututho accused of claiming the money from KRA for import of 1,600 hospital beds

Receipts issued after the purchase of hospital equipment for the Kenyatta National Hospital are forgeries, a Kenya Revenue Authority official stated on Tuesday.

Mr Elijah Ndegwa Chimera was testifying in a case in which Naivasha MP John Mututho is accused of fraudulently obtaining Sh41.3 million from KNH as reimbursement for import duty and Value Added Tax.

Mr Ndegwa told Nairobi chief magistrate Gilbert Mutembei that two receipts purported to be issued by KRA and bearing his signature were forgeries.

The first was allegedly issued after the import of 214 bed side cabinets whose duties and taxes amounted to Sh5,197,509.

The second one was for 107 bed side cabinets whose duties and taxes totalled to Sh2,590,029.

“The signatures on these receipts are not mine. I even told the police that these receipts are forgeries,” he said in court.

Import documents

However, during cross examination, he revealed that some of the import documents were not checked by KRA officials.

Mr Mututho is accused of obtaining the Sh41 million by pretending that his company, Countryside Suppliers, had paid duty to KRA on behalf of KNH to import 1,600 beds and bed side cabinets.

The corruption case was initially filed in 2005. The offences, which include forging receipts, were committed between August and December 2001.

In another case, Nairobi Provincial Police Officer has been summoned by the High Court over the disappearance of a man who was charged alongside Mungiki leader Maina Njenga three years ago.

Mr Justice George Dulu wondered why the nine police officers who had been summoned to view a video of them and Kimani Ruo failed to turn up in court.

The nine police officers are said to be ones last seen with Mr Ruo before he disappeared. Mr Ruo was surrounded by officers after he was acquitted on June 21, 2006. He has since gone missing.

He was freed in a case where Mr Njenga was sentenced to five years for having a firearm and 22 rolls of bhang.

Justice Dulu ordered the PPO to appear before him on November 3.