Why Jumwa is not at ease in graft probe

Vocal Malindi MP Aisha Jumwa seems to be in more political trouble after detectives unearthed a financial web in which tens of millions of shillings from Malindi Constituency Development Fund and from Kilifi County government contracts ended up in her personal accounts.

The Nation has now authoritatively established that Ms Jumwa’s bank accounts were first flagged in June 2019 by the Financial Reporting Centre (FRC), a government institution that helps identify and trace proceeds of crime and incidents of money laundering which was concerned with suspicious crediting of millions of shillings into her account.

The police inquiries could add to the woes facing Ms Jumwa, who is also under investigations by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations over last month’s shooting to death of Mr Jola Ngumbao after she stormed the home of Mr Reuben Mwambire Katana, the ODM candidate during the Ganda ward by-election. The legislature and her aide, Geoffrey Okuto, are out on Sh500,000 bail each.

GENUINE TRANSACTIONS

The Nation cannot verify whether these were genuine business transactions.

On Wednesday, Ms Jumwa dismissed the investigations as “witch hunt” and said she’s very broke and she’s looking for money.

“I am from Ganze and I am very broke. I don’t know such news, that is pure propaganda. I don’t have money. I am looking for money,” she said.

Investigations by both FRC and detectives have centred on four companies which have been used to transfer money into Ms Jumwa’s bank accounts.

These are Bizcot Limited, which is run by Mr Okuto (Jumwa’s aide) and whose other director is Mr Joseph Otieno.

The others are Kaseru Construction Limited, whose directors are Mr Karisa Kalume and Ms Selina Kalume, Jumwa’s son and daughter respectively, and Multiserve Contractors Limited, whose directors are Mr Robert Katana Wanje and Ms Rachel Neema Karisa, a daughter-in-law.

TENDERS

The inquiry is part of ongoing nationwide investigations on how politicians have been using proxy companies to get NG-CDF and county government tenders.

Documents with us from Malindi indicate that between November 2017 and December 2018, Multiserve Contractors received Sh19 million from the Malindi National Government NG-CDF and another Sh48.4 million from Kilifi County.

The firm had been contracted by Malindi NG-CDF to construct an education office block at Malindi sub-county.

After the payment on September 12, 2018, it transferred Sh2.5 million to the personal account of the MP and she transferred, via RTGS, Sh2.8 million to a property developer as part payment for a four-bedroomed house at Argwings-Kodhek Road in Nairobi.

Detectives are now treating that purchase with suspicion. While transferring the money to the MP, the Multiserve Construction director indicated it was “repayment of a loan” granted to him by the MP. On November 4, Multiserve Construction also transferred Sh11 million to Kaseru Construction, a company run by Ms Jumwa’s son and daughter.

SH10 MILLION

Until August 2018, Multiserve had transferred Sh10 million to Ms Jumwa’s personal account.

“It is true we are looking into these transactions and we want the MP and her son and daughter to explain these payments,” said Mr George Kinoti, the director of Criminal Investigations.

Another company on the radar of detectives is owned by Ms Jumwa’s aide — Geoffrey Okuto — who was also arrested after a man was shot dead during a by-election scuffle.

Bizcot Limited had been awarded a tender to deliver a borehole drilling rig for Sh46.4 million. On March 8, 2018, the company was paid Sh44 million and on the same day, they transferred Sh27 million to the MP’s account in the same bank. The MP transferred Sh3 million to a local politician Radhia Omar, Sh1.5 million to a motor dealer and she deposited Sh15 million in a fixed deposit account.

SUSPICIOUS TRANSACTIONS

Also under investigations are Jumwa’s son Karisa and daughter Selina, whose company Kaseru Construction is being investigated for suspicious transactions.

Registered in January 2014, the company has for the last four years received Sh65 million from Kilifi County for numerous tenders. Detectives are also going through the documents used to win the tender.

“We believe that some of these documents are forged and that the MP was running all these companies using proxies,” said Mr Kinoti without going into details of the investigations.