NYS suspect’s lawyer says police asked for bribe, threatened him

What you need to know:

  • The lawyer said he was subsequently charged with money laundering, his account frozen, and was named as a suspect in the NYS theft.
  • He was later asked to send Sh50.4 million to Michael Daud and Associates and Sh12 million to Faulu Kenya Ltd.

Detectives investigating the theft of the National Youth Service money are said to have demanded bribes from one of the lawyers who handled Sh113 million from Mr Ben Gethi, one of the suspects in the scandal, a parliamentary committee has heard.

Mr Patrick Onyango Ogola told the Parliamentary Accounts Committee that he handled the money from Mr Gethi and his business associate John Kago.

Mr Ogola told the committee that officers from the Banking Fraud Investigation Department demanded that he bribes them and when he refused, he was harassed and subjected to investigations and harassment by anti-terror detectives and the Kenya Revenue Authority.

He told of sitting in a room at Marshalls House, the headquarters of the Banking Fraud Investigations Department, and listening in fear as seven officers discussed the various times they had killed or taken money from suspects.

The officers later demanded a bribe from him, Mr Ogola said, but he refused.

He did not name the officers but said a Corporal Jeremiah Sautet was behind his tribulations, which involved a threat to be killed by officers from the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit and harassment by the tax agency.

Mr Ogola told the committee he was first sent Sh63.15 million from Mr Kago as Mr Gethi sought to have him handle the purchase of a Sh60-million house in Rosslyn Estate for Charity Gethi, Mr Gethi’s mother, in March 2015.

But when his mother fell ill and he travelled to Mombasa, the lawyer was told the matter would have to be dealt with by another lawyer as the person selling the house was in a hurry.

SUSPICIOUS TRANSFER

He was later asked to send Sh50.4 million to Michael Daud and Associates and Sh12 million to Faulu Kenya Ltd.

“Over the last one year, I have been subjected to investigations by the Banking Fraud Investigations Department. I have been harassed, intimidated, threatened and finally openly told that I would need to bribe them to secure a report clearing me of any wrongdoing,” he said.

The lawyer said he was subsequently charged with money laundering, his account frozen, and was named as a suspect in the NYS theft.

The MPs were, however, puzzled at Mr Ogola’s naiveté.

“We strongly believe there was serious money laundering going on and you were part of it, whether knowingly or unknowingly. That is why you have drawn the attention of all these other agencies,” Mr Abdikadir Omar Aden, a committee member, said.

Mr Aden is also the MP for Balambala.

“Did it not occur to you that someone was using you for money laundering? Sometimes this is what people use to confuse the paper trail,” Suba MP John Mbadi asked.

Mr Arthur Papa Odera (Teso North, URP) wondered how a lawyer of Mr Ogola’s experience could fail to realise that the transactions he was handling were suspicious.