Echesa arrested by detectives after raid at his Karen home

What you need to know:

  • Echesa was arrested on February 14, 2020 over a Sh40 billion fake military equipment tender.
  • Lead detective Ahmed Abdikadir swore an affidavit, stating the search was prompted by a case relating to fraudulent acquisition of vehicles.

Former Sports CS Rashid Echesa’s woes deepened on Monday when DCI detectives attached to the Serious Crimes Unit raided his house and arrested him in connection with a car-dealing fraud.

The detectives, who forced their way into the compound around 11am after waiting for over an hour to be allowed in, searched the home and took away registration documents and sale agreements of five vehicles, including a Mercedes Benz KCL 350J, a V8 KCW 298Q, a Lexus KBY 750U, a Volkswagen KAY 388A and a pick-up KBPV 725B.

Lead detective Ahmed Abdikadir swore an affidavit, stating that the search was prompted by a case relating to fraudulent acquisition of vehicles belonging to Ms Esther Kabura.

According to the affidavit, Ms Kabura’s husband, Patrick Akifuma, was a close friend of Mr Echesa, and that the two had spent the whole day together the day Akifuma died on March 14, 2016.

She further told the DCI that the former CS often hired the family’s Toyota Land Cruiser V8 from her husband and that at the time of his death, Mr Echesa had hired the car, but never returned it.

Ms Kabura said she tried reclaiming the vehicle, but in vain. She later found that Mr Echesa had transferred ownership of the car and two others — a Toyota Mark X KBN 242W and a Passat KAY 388A — to himself.

“It is, therefore, prudent for the investigating officers to conduct a search in his premises, homes and offices to be able to ascertain the allegations and recover evidence as the case may be,” Corporal Abdikadir said in his affidavit.

CLEARANCE LETTER

The detectives drove off with the five vehicles to the DCI headquarters.

Mr Echesa’s lawyer, former Kiambu magistrate Brian Khaemba, said the matter was first raised when he was being vetted for the CS position.

“The National Assembly referred the matter to the DCI and, after investigations, the head of the DCI serious crimes prevention unit wrote a clearance letter to the National Assembly stating [that] the former CS had purchased that particular vehicle genuinely and therefore there was no crime that he had committed,” Mr Khaemba said.

He found it surprising, he said, that the same matter had resurfaced from the same office that cleared Mr Echesa.

“It appears to be a criminal investigation, but there are lots of undercurrents that have nothing to do with the pursuit of justice. All the logbooks of the vehicles have been taken away plus five cars, yet the complainant had talked of one vehicle. In total, the DCI is currently holding six vehicles belonging to my client,” he said, adding, that the sixth one was detained last month after his arrest in a previous case.

FRESH EVIDENCE

The lawyer further claimed that one of the complainant’s sons had written a statement at the DCI stating that he and his mother had sold the car in question to the former CS.

“If there’s fresh evidence, it has not been brought to us. What we have is that the investigations had been conclusive and the file closed. A case of falsifying a motor vehicle ownership does not necessitate the kind of search that we have experienced here, almost five hours,” he said.

He said his client had refused to open the gate to the detectives on his advice.

“When he called me I was in Milimani law courts and I told him not to open until I come because you know the detectives are not in police uniform so it’s very hard for him to tell whether they are police officers or not. The officers were, however, impatient and so they climbed up the perimeter wall,” he said.

The former CS is expected in court Tuesday for the pre-trial hearing of his other Sh40 billion fake arms scandal case in which he has been charged alongside three others with 12 counts of fraud-related charges.

His co-accused Mr Rashid and his co-accused -- Daniel Otieno Omondi, Kennedy Oyoo Mboya and Clifford Okoth -- pleaded not guilty to the charges on February 17 at the Milimani Law Courts.