20 NYS scandal suspects dragged to court in Nairobi
Twenty of the more than 50 suspects arrested over the Sh8 billion National Youth Service scandal have been arraigned in Nairobi.
The suspects, who included Youth Affairs Principal Secretary Lilian Omollo, were brought to Milimani Law Courts in eight vehicles— three Land Rovers and five Subarus.
Others were NYS Director-General Richard Ndubai and managers of suspected phony companies that were used to swindle the public.
They were dragged to court from the various police stations in the capital Nairobi where they spent the night.
Mrs Omollo and the other suspects were locked up at the Milimani court's basement cells as they waited for the prosecution and their lawyers to put their papers together.
They are expected to face various charges relating to the loss of Sh457 million of the Sh8 billion lost at the service.
The charges include fraud, abuse of office and conspiracy to commit corruption.
More suspects are expected to be presented in court once the Directorate of Criminal Investigations completes its investigations.
Judge Francis Andeya is expected to handle the cases that have caught the attention and attracted fury of the nation.
Various prominent lawyer are representing the suspects in their cases, including Cliff Ombeta, who is defending Mr Ndubai.
On Tuesday afternoon Mr Ndubai and Mrs Omollo denied charges of abuse of office, conspiracy to commit an economic crime and willful failure to comply with the requirements of the management of public funds.
They are accused of authorising payment of Sh28 million to Ameri Trade Limited for goods not supplied.
Defence lawyers objected their clients being charged under different files.
Lawyer Stephen Ligunya for Mrs Omollo argued that the prosecution is ambushing them by bringing piecemeal charges.
According to Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Emily Kamau, the prosecution has ten different files with some of the accused persons appearing in some of them.
Others, she said, appear in all the ten files.
Ms Kamau has also applied for warrants of arrests for persons who failed to appear in court yet they sent lawyers to represent them.
