NHIF, Meridian chiefs deny fraud
What you need to know:
- The five were accused of conspiring to defraud the NHIF of Sh116.9 million
- The appearance of the five in court was a culmination of more than 12 months of investigations
A former boss of the national health insurer has been charged with conspiracy to defraud millions of shillings meant for civil servants and disciplined forces medical schemes.
Mr Richard Kerich was charged alongside two of the insurer’s managers, Mr Marwa Chacha and Mr David Chingi. Also caught up in the National Health Insurance Fund graft case are Meridian Medical Centre directors Peter Wambugu and Ndiba Wairioko.
The five were accused of conspiring to defraud the NHIF of Sh116.9 million. The health insurers’ bosses were accused of entering into a contract with Meridian Medical Centre Limited to provide medical care while knowing that the facility had no capacity to do so.
Mr Kerich and Mr Chacha, the health insurer’s manager for Strategy and Corporate Planning, faced a second count of failing to comply with procurement rules.
They allegedly failed to float an open tender while procuring the services of Meridian Medical Centre.
The two were further accused alongside Mr Chingi of abuse of office, where they were alleged to have inappropriately used their offices to award a benefit of Sh116,935,500 to Meridian.
DISCIPLINED FORCES
Mr Wambugu and Mr Wairioko, on the other hand, faced another charge of obtaining Sh18.9 million from NHIF by pretending that they were in a position to provide health services to civil servants and members of the disciplined forces.
The offences were allegedly committed between December 2011 and March 2012 at the NHIF building in Nairobi. They denied the charges before acting Chief Magistrate Doreen Mulekyo, who freed them on Sh2 million cash bail each.
Senior assistant Director of Public Prosecution Kioko Kamula told the court that they had lined up 40 witnesses for the week-long hearing scheduled to start from January 27 to January 31, next year.
The appearance of the five in court was a culmination of more than 12 months of investigations by the graft watchdog into the loss of millions of shillings from the Sh4.3 billion medical fund meant for civil servants and disciplined forces.
Mr Kerich surrendered himself to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission on Tuesday.
