Fertiliser scam: 3 top NCPB officials, including MD John Kimote, arrested
Some of the 560 bags of substandard fertiliser that were seized at the National Cereals and Produce Board depot in Molo, Nakuru County on March 23, 2024.
Three senior officials of the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) have been arrested and taken to Muthaiga Police Station where they will remain until Thursday morning awaiting arraignment.
The three include John Kimote, the Board’s Managing Director, John Kiplangat Ngetich, the Board’s Corporate Secretary and Mr John Mbaya, the chairperson of NCPB Business Committee.
They were arrested in a sting operation by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) detectives at NCPB's Nairobi depot offices around 6pm on Tuesday for their alleged involvement in the fake fertiliser scandal that rocked the country two months ago.
Confirming the arrests, DCI boss Amin Mohamed said the suspects will be charged with conspiracy to commit an offence of economic crime, conspiracy to defraud as well as abuse of office. All these offences are contrary to the Anti-corruption and Economic Crimes Act.
“More arrests are still underway,” DCI Mohamed said.
Mr Josiah Kariuki Kimani, Director, SBL Innovative is yet to be arrested but the sleuths are still pursuing him.
Interestingly, these high-profile arrests come barely a few hours after National Assembly Speaker, Moses Wetang’ula approved an impeachment motion against Agriculture and Livestock Cabinet Secretary, Mithika Linturi.
The motion was sponsored by Bumula MP Jack Wamboka and members of parliament will debate the motion Thursday and will require a simple majority to send CS Linturi packing.
Mr Linturi has been under fire with calls for his sacking from the Law Society of Kenya and civil societies gaining momentum ever since news broke that farmers across the country were sold fake fertiliser under the government fertiliser subsidy programme rolled out last year.
Approving payments
The CS has also been faulted for approving payments to some of the suppliers of the substandard yield-enhancing product.
A press statement from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) stated that the DCI conducted investigations into the accused persons as well as SBL Innovative Manufacturers Limited and Fifty-One Capital (K) Limited and submitted the file to the ODPP for perusal and directions.
Upon review of the evidence tabled, Director of Public Prosecutions Renson Igonga directed that the accused parties be charged with the aforementioned crimes.
Just last week, the management of KEL-Chemicals Limited, the company accused of having supplied the fake fertiliser, through its advocate, Senior Counsel Ahmednassir Abdullahi, wrote to the DCI requesting investigations into the conduct of Mr Kimote, Mr Ngetich, Mr Matiri as well as CS Linturi.
In the letter to the DCI, KEL-Chemicals accused the senior officials of mishandling members of its senior management as well as tampering with facts on the issue surrounding the supply of some 3,000 bags of fertiliser that were allegedly found to be substandard.
These bags were produced between March 5 and March 7, and upon preliminary tests conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture, were found to be of low quality leading to their tracing from the market, CS Linturi told the country during his inspection tour to the company three weeks ago.
Further testing
Some bags were found and were taken to the Kenya Bureau of Standards for further testing as investigations continued, the CS said.
KEL Chemicals told the DCI that the three senior officials attempted to force one of its senior directors to attend a pre-arranged press conference and read a statement drafted by the State agency admitting fault for the production of the substandard fertiliser.
The company said that on April 7, 2024, its senior official received “more than 30 calls within an hour” from the three suspects insisting on the need for him to attend the press conference at a Nairobi hotel.
They alleged that one of the senior NCPB officials even shared a copy of the statement on the director’s WhatsApp. The key messaging was for KEL-Chemicals to “take responsibility for the 3,000 bags”.
KEL-Chemicals also linked CS Linturi to the circus saying that the Cabinet Secretary personally called its director “directing him to attend the press conference at the hotel and confirmed the need for him to use the statement shared with him”.
The director however could not appear at the hotel as directed as he was at the plant in Thika with DCI officers finishing up the seizure of the bags of fertiliser.
It is his failure to appear at the press conference that KEL Chemicals believes prompted CS Linturi’s inspection at the fertiliser plant in Thika on April 12, 2024, where he announced the company’s closure and declared it a crime scene.
With Wednesday being a public holiday, the three will spend an extra day at Muthaiga police station cells as they await their arraignment on Thursday morning.
