Mungatana among 21 arrested over Kilifi County’s Sh51m theft

Former assistant minister Danson Mungatana has been arrested over the theft of Sh51 million from the Kilifi County government. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Mr Mungatana was arrested Thursday morning together with 21 others.
  • The others arrested include officials of Kilifi County government.
  • EACC says 14 other suspects who are at large are being pursued over the matter.

Officials of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) have arrested former assistant minister Danson Mungatana over the theft of Sh51 million from the Kilifi County government.

Mr Mungatana was arrested Thursday morning together with 21 others, including officials of Kilifi County government.

They will be charged in Malindi Thursday morning.

Mr Mungatana was arrested while on his way to Kajiado while the other suspects were arrested in different parts of the country including Nairobi.

Those arrested include former principal accountant Josephine Muramba, senior accountant John Kalume, deputy director, accounts department Paul Mwazo, procurement officer Embrahim Mwanje and businesswomen Benaya Mugavana and Lucy Kibogo.

SUSPECTS AT LARGE

In a report seen by the Nation, EACC says 14 other suspects who are at large are being pursued over the matter.

According to EACC, the suspects payed the amount to six companies for services that they did not offer and goods not supplied as required.

The private companies include Daima One Enterprises, Zohali Sevices Limited, Makegra Supplies Limite, Kilingi Investments Company Limited, Leadership Edge Associated Limited and Johazi Investment Company.

The anti-corruption commission said that local service orders (LSO) used for the transactions were fake as they did not originate from the county government.

The commission further says that the county officials who have been arrested processed and approved payments for services not delivered.

MILLIONS STOLEN

In 2017, a court enjoined the former Garsen MP in a case involving one of the companies suspected to have stolen millions of shillings from the Kilifi County government’s Central Bank account.

Kilifi Chief Magistrate D W Nyambu then ruled that Mr Mungatana responds to allegations made by a director of Zohali Supplies Ltd that he benefited from the Sh51 million belonging to the county, allegedly stolen through the Integrated Financial Management Information System (Ifmis).

Ms Lucy Wanjugu Kibogo, a director of Zohali, had implicated Mr Mungatana in the theft, saying she received millions of shillings on his behalf.

ACCOUNTS OVERDRAWN

In her sworn affidavit, Ms Kibogo said that Mr Mungatana approached her in 2016, telling her he was expecting to receive huge amounts of money and that he wanted her to receive it on his behalf since his (Mungatana's) bank accounts were overdrawn.

“On October 4, 2016, I was credited Sh5.3 million in my Jamii Bora Bank account together with Ms Muthoni, and Mr Mungatana forwarded me a document copy showing the source of the funds [to be] Kilifi County government,” she stated.

Ms Kibogo further said that she withdrew the money and forwarded it to Mr Mungatana after collecting her commission.

She also submitted copies of her bank statement, receipts and telephone conversations with Mr Mungatana, which were allegedly extracted by detectives.