Former Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu and his wife Susan Wangari have been found guilty of graft in the Sh588 million graft case that started five years ago.
The tender, issued to Testimony Enterprises by the county in 2018, was for the upgrading of various gravel roads to Bitumen standard in Thika, Limuru, Gatundu North, Juja and Ruiru sub-counties.
Also found guilty is businessman Charles Chege and his wife Beth Wangechi, together with former Kiambu County Government Roads Chief Officer Engineer Luka Mwangi.
The accused were, however, acquitted from money laundering after the court found that it was oppressive for the prosecution to press additional charges.
Second ex-governor to be convicted
Mr Waititu becomes the second governor in Kenya to be convicted for corruption after his Samburu counterpart, Moses Lenolkul al, was sentenced to four years for corruptly pocketing more than Sh83 million from the devolved unit.
Milimani anti-corruption court chief magistrate Thomas Nzioki said Wednesday that the prosecution had proved it's case against Waititu and his co-accused.
Chief Magistrate Thomas Nzioka at the Milimani Law Court on February 12, 2025.
Photo credit: Wilfred Nyangaresi | Nation Media Group
He also dismissed Mr Waititu's defence that the case was political witch-hunt by the previous Jubilee administration over his political relationship with President William Ruto.
"Having painstakingly evaluated the evidence presented by the parties and on careful consideration of the submissions, I am convinced beyond any reasonable doubt that the prosecution has proved the charges against the accused persons," said the magistrate.
Private interest in the tender
The court found that Mr Waititu acquired private interest in the contract by receiving Sh25.6 million from Testimony Enterprises.
The money was channeled to him personally by the company's director Charles Chege. It was wired to his companies: Saika Two Estate Developers, Bienvenue Delta Hotel Ltd and Lake Naivasha Resort.
The magistrate dismissed the defence by Mr Waititu and his wife that the money received from Testimony Enterprises was payments for services rendered such as hotel conference, accommodation, meals and supply of petroleum.
He noted that the defence by the governor, his wife and the main director of Testimony Enterprises Limited to explain the reason for the monies received by the entities, Saika Two Estate Developers Limited, Bienvenue Delta Hotel Limited and Lake Naivasha Resort Limited lacked credibility.
"Their defence bears admissions that Bienvenue Delta Hotel, a business name owned by the governor and his wife, was directly trading with Testimony Enterprises Limited by supplying oil, petroleum products and offering conference and catering services," said the magistrate.
"The defences raised by Mr Waititu, his wife and Mr Chege fail to account for the cheques and funds transfer disbursements made by Testimony Enterprises Limited."
Acquittance of Waititu and his wife
Further, the magistrate detailed how the road project contract was procured fraudulently and awarded to someone who is an acquittance of Mr Waititu and his wife Susan.
"Testimony Enterprises Limited won the tender by manipulation and procurement fraud perpetrated by Eng. Luka Mwangi Wahinya (former roads chief officer) and the tender evaluation committee. The inclusion of new criteria during the tender evaluation, serialisation and form of tender gave Testimony Enterprises Limited undue advantage against the other four bidders," he said.
He observed that Mr Mwangi manipulated the process of procurement contrary to section 74(1)(i) of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015 by omitting serialisation and form of tender in the bidding process.
The court ruled that the firm won the tender based on falsified documents and fake partnership agreements with a Chinese firm, China Wu Yi Company Limited.
This is after Mr Chege, director of Testimony admitted submitting forged documents to secure the contract during his defence.
The prosecution informed court Mr Chege had forged documents from University of Nairobi and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
