Suspended Youth Fund pair face 12 counts of corruption charges

What you need to know:

  • The Youth Fund officials were each released on a Sh5 million bond with an alternative cash bail of Sh 2 million.
  • Catherine Namuye and Bruce Adhiambo are alleged to have received Sh 4.5 million and Sh 1.8 million in kickbacks from Quorandum Limited.

Suspended Youth Enterprise Development Fund boss Catherine Namuye and former board chairman Bruce Adhiambo have been charged with 12 counts of corruption in relation to the loss of Sh180 million of taxpayers' money.

Ms Namuye and Mr Odhiambo were charged alongside the directors of Quorandum Ltd, Mukuria Ngamau and Doreen Waithera, who were flown in from Mombasa on Friday to answer to the multiple charges before an anti-corruption court in Nairobi.

The Youth Fund officials were each released on a Sh5 million bond with an alternative cash bail of Sh2 million, but the court reduced the cash bail for Ngamau and his wife to Sh1 million.

Ms Namuye and Mr Odhiambo are alleged to have received Sh 4.5 million and Sh 1.8 million in kickbacks from Quorandum that prosecutors said “they had reasons to believe was corruptly acquired from the Youth Enterprise Development Fund.”

Prosecutors say that between November 17, 2014 and May 4, 2015 in Nairobi, the suspects conspired to defraud the public through “unlawful payment of Sh180,364,789 from the Youth Enterprise Development Fund to Quorandum Limited for services not rendered.”

Mr Ngamau and his wife were further charged with illegal acquisition of public property and denied that they jointly received Sh115,710,000 from the Youth Fund account held at Chase Bank for services they did not deliver.

They also faced an additional charge of receiving a further Sh64,654,789 as directors of the company in question on May 4, 2015 for the ghost services.

Ms Namuye denied a charge of abuse of office stating that while acting as the chief executive, she executed an underhand contract between the Youth Enterprise Development Fund and Quorandum amounting to Sh114,909,000 for alleged provision of consultancy services dubbed “The Design of Specifications for an Enterprise Resource Planning.”