EACC grills Danson Mungatana in Sh51m Kilifi scandal probe

Anti-corruption detectives on Wednesday grilled former Garsen MP Danson Mungatana for over five hours over theft of funds at Kilifi County.

Mr Mungatana entered the Integrity Centre,  the headquarters of Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, at 10.30am and left a few minutes after 4pm.

INTERROGATION

The former assistant minister told reporters that he had given the investigators his side of the story, and that he hoped the "real culprits" would be exposed and brought to book.

Mr Mungatana was adversely mentioned in an affidavit by one of the directors being investigated for the theft of sh51 million from the county's Central Bank account.

In the  affidavit, Ms Lucy Wanjugu Kibogo, a director of Zohal Services Limited, claims she was approached by Mr Mungatana, who requested her to receive money on his behalf.

COURT CASE

The former lawmaker, who is eyeing the Tana River gubernatorial seat, denied the allegations.

In January, a Kilifi court enjoined Mr Mungatana in a case involving one of the companies implicated in the scandal.

In the affidavit filed in court, Ms Kibogo, a director of Zohal Services Limited, claimed she was approached by Mr Mungatana, who requested her to receive the money on his behalf.

SH5.3 MILLION

Ms Kibogo claimed that on October 4, last year, an account belonging to her company was credited with Sh5.3 million upon which Mr Mungatana forwarded to her a copy of a document showing the money had been sent by the Kilifi county government.

Ms Kibogo, whose affidavit is in relation to a civil case filed by the county government, said she withdrew the money from the account over several days.

“I later forwarded the money in cash to Mr Mungatana, less VAT and my nominal commission,” said Ms Kibogo in the two-page affidavit.

SH3.8 MILLION

She claimed that on October 7 last year, a further Sh3.8 million was credited to the account.

However, she claimed that she was informed by the bank, named in the affidavit, that the money had been recalled by Central Bank of Kenya because of reasons she was unaware of, at that time.

According to Ms Kibogo, on realising that there was a problem with the account between October 19 and November 10 last year, she transferred to the account equivalent of the money she had initially withdrawn in order to remedy the situation.

She further says that she was later summoned to the EACC in Nairobi on November 22 where she recorded her statement with officers from Malindi.

FRAUD PROBE

“In the evening of the same day, I was taken to the Banking Fraud Investigations Department offices where I was interrogated. I obliged to co-operate to be a State witness,” she said in her affidavit dated January 12.

She said that she was charged on December 5 last year when she pleaded not guilty.

“I was disappointed by the treatment that I was accorded after I had agreed to cooperate and furnish the name of a person of interest, one Danson Mungatana,” said Ms Kibogo.