Laikipia County official charged with Sh470,000 bribery
The senior county official denied all the charges and was released on a cash bail of Sh100,000, which he paid immediately. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Mr Joseph Mwangi Maina was charged with three counts of the crime before Chief Magistrate Lucy Mutai.
- The senior county official denied all the charges and was released on a cash bail of Sh100,000, which he paid immediately.
Laikipia County's Director of Water Services was on Monday charged in a Nanyuki court with soliciting Sh470,000 bribes from three contractors who won tenders to build dams.
Mr Joseph Mwangi Maina was charged with three counts of the crime before Chief Magistrate Lucy Mutai.
In the first count, Mr Maina is accused of asking for a Sh220,000 bribe from Korner General Contractors director James Gatwiri Warui on unknown dates in January 2018.
The firm is said to have successfully won a tender to rehabilitate Solio Four earth dam.
The Sh220,000 was allegedly to be used as the facilitation fee for the project's supervision.
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The second count states that the suspect solicited a bribe of Sh150,000 from Ugatuzi Contractors' official Stephen Karanja Mathenge in January 2018.
The bribe was also meant to be the facilitation fee for supervision of rehabilitation works at Imenya dam.
In the third count, Mr Maina is accused of asking for a Sh100,000 bribe from Hassan Mohamed Ali whose company, Laissa Construction Limited, secured the tender to construct Kalalu dam.
The senior county official denied all the charges and was released on a cash bail of Sh100,000, which he paid immediately.
Mr Mwangi, through his lawyer Mr John Abour, had pleaded for reasonable bail or bond terms, saying he would attend all court sessions.
The hearing was set for March 2020.
