EACC boss: Waiguru is a suspect

What you need to know:

  • The anti-corruption agency’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr Halakhe Waqo, said Ms Waiguru was among officials of the ministry and National Youth Service department being treated as “people of interest”.

The Ethics Anti-Corruption Commission is treating former Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru as a suspect in various investigations.

The anti-corruption agency’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr Halakhe Waqo, said Ms Waiguru was among officials of the ministry and National Youth Service department being treated as “people of interest”.

“Every member of the ministry at high level at the time, including NYS senior officials, are being treated as people of interest. That includes those viewed as high suspects,” Mr Waqo said during an interview with Citizen TV on Sunday.

He, however, added that the commission had never announced that Ms Waiguru was a prosecution witness, as has been indicated by her lawyer, Ahmednasir Abdullahi.

“The commission never announced that.  It was not a statement from us because if it was, our officers charged with announcing it would have done so,” Mr Waqo said.

He added that the raid on the homes of Ms Waiguru, Mr Nelson Githinji, Mr Adan Harakhe and Peter Mangiti were among 18 targets the commission was pursuing in the investigation. Almost Sh791 million is believed to have been lost in the NYS scandal.

“Like any other investigations, this looked at various individuals suspected to be part of various deals and management of NYS resources. We did not just look at Ms Waiguru’s case or her home. There were 18 targets that the commission was actually pursuing,” he said.

He added that matters relating to management of resources at NYS  were wider than what the public knew.

“When we investigate a problem, we don’t look at an individual. It is the whole project and anybody who is involved in one way or another,” the EACC boss told the journalist.

He added that even those suspected to have been involved in any scandal, or those with some sort of relationship with a particular project would be questioned and make a follow-up on what the commission wanted to establish.