Kenya got Sh16bn loan for Arror, Kimwarer dams during fraud probe
Ex-Treasury CS Henry Rotich.
What you need to know:
- Court filings by Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji allege that Mr Rotich facilitated direct payment of the amount to Italy’s SACE Insurance contrary to the law, which requires that all payments are processed through the consolidated account in Kenya.
Kenya received Sh16.2 billion from Italian bank Intesa San Paolo for the construction of Arror and Kimwarer dams in a period when investigations into the misuse of funds in the project were ongoing.
The Treasury’s public debt registry shows that the Italian bank wired the billions in the year starting July 2019, just days after former Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich was arrested on suspicion of financial misconduct related to the construction of the two dams.
This suggests that the arrests or ongoing probe of a suspect loan deal to finance the construction of Arror and Kimwarer dams did not stop Intesa San Paolo from releasing additional debt for the project.
The register shows that Kenya had received Sh3.4 billion ahead of July 2019 when reports of and investigations into the alleged financial misconduct linked to the construction of two dams were in the public domain.
In September 2019, President Uhuru Kenyatta cancelled the projects after receiving a report from a technical committee, which he had formed following the discovery of irregularities and improprieties surrounding the two mega infrastructure projects.
Read more here
