Ex-MD, six others arrested over Sh2.5bn LBDA mall scandal

The new Lake Basin Mall located at the Mamboleo in Kisumu. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Former LBDA chairman and Kisumu County Assembly Speaker Onyango Oloo was arrested in Mombasa on Saturday.
  • The former LBDA chiefs have been accused of pocketing cash and receiving other benefits from a construction company.

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission on Sunday arrested more suspects in connection to the Sh2.5 billion Lake Basin Development Authority Kisumu Mall scandal.

In a statement, EACC stated it had arrested former LBDA Managing Director Peter Aguko Abok and former board members Michael Obora, Dennis Sebastian Mulaa and John Nyera Mango.

Also arrested were Internal Auditor Albert Ojango Omondi, Production Technologist (Evaluation Committee) Nelson Ouma Onyango and former Supplies Officer (Evaluation and Tender Committee Teresa Achieng Ochaka.

The EACC said that the suspects will be arraigned in Nairobi on Monday.

PARALYSED

The anti-graft agency however, directed that Mr Mango, who is paralysed and needs special attention, to present himself at Integrity Centre on Monday at 7.30am after being committed through bond and bail.

Former LBDA chairman and Kisumu County Assembly Speaker Onyango Oloo was arrested in Mombasa on Saturday.

Mr Oloo, who was being sought by EACC, was put in police custody after presenting himself to Central Police Station at around 2pm Saturday.

Mr Oloo surrendered to the police in Mombasa in the company of several members of the Kisumu County Assembly.

The former LBDA chiefs have been accused of pocketing cash and receiving other benefits from a construction company in a scandal that saw the cost of building the LBDA Mall in Kisumu inflated by Sh2.5 billion.

SCANDAL

Following the completion of investigations into the scandal, Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji on Friday ordered the immediate arrest of LBDA managers, contractors and consultants in the project.

Already, Bobasi MP Innocent Obiri and Erdemann Property Ltd managing director John Zeyung Yang were arrested on Friday in connection with the scandal that has been under investigations for four years. Mr Obiri was the MD of Quantech Consultancy as the mall was being built.