Kacc questions businessman on graves scandal

Newton Osiemo (left) and his lawyer Owino Opiyo at the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission offices on March 11, 2010. Photo/JENIFFER MUIRURI

A businessman alleged to have delivered kickbacks to key government officials in the Sh283 million cemetery land scandal was questioned by anti-corruption detectives on Thursday.

Mr Newton Osiemo, the man an investigation report claims represented the interests of Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi and suspended Local Government Permanent Secretary Sammy Kirui in the cemetery land transaction was questioned for seven hours at Integrity Centre.

He drove to the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission headquarters at exactly 9.55 am with his lawyer, Mr Owino Opiyo. Three Nairobi City Council chief officers implicated in the scandal also appeared before the commission.

Linked to scandal

In the scandal, Local Government, Treasury and City Hall officials have been accused of colluding with brokers to inflate the price of 120 acres of land by more than Sh260 million.

Sources within Kacc who declined to be named because they are not authorised to speak on behalf of the commission told Nation that Mr Osiemo was questioned on his alleged involvement in the scandal that has seen 13 officials implicated in the deal suspended by President Kibaki.

The sources said that Mr Osiemo was taken through the Kacc report page-by-page and asked to respond to specific allegations linking him to the scandal. The line of interrogation, our source said, related to the disbursement of millions of shillings believed to have been proceeds of the questionable transaction, to various accounts.

Emerging from the session at 4.40 pm, Mr Osiemo’s lawyer told journalists that his client had stated facts. “My client has presented himself here on his volition, and he has recorded a statement stating facts as they are,” he added. Mr Osiemo declined to say anything, leaving his lawyer to address journalists who had kept vigil outside Integrity Centre for the better part of the day.

According to the Kacc report, Mr Osiemo was introduced to Ms Mary Ng’ethe, the suspended head of Legal affairs at City Hall by Mayor Geoffrey Majiwa, who told her that he was Mr Mudavadi’s business associate and would also take care of his interests and those of PS Kirui in the land deal.

Mr Mudavadi has admitted meeting Mr Osiemo in a social function long before the cemetery saga started, but denied that he has had any business dealings with him. Mr Osiemo has also denied any association with the deputy Prime Minister. Also questioned by Kacc were three City Hall officials who have been suspended over their alleged role in the scandal.

They are Mr Geoffrey Katsoleh, who at one time served as a deputy town clerk and is currently the Thika town clerk, Mr Karisa Iha, who was Ms Ng’ethe’s deputy and City Hall’s chief internal auditor, Mr I N Ngacha. Unlike Mr Osiemo, the three were questioned for less than an hour before being released.

Sources at Integrity Centre said that Mr Osiemo would be summoned back for further questioning next week. Mr Katsoleh told journalists that he had opted to present himself to the detectives to clear his name