Sirisia MP John Waluke surrenders to police after High Court upheld his 67-year prison sentence

Sirisia Member of Parliament John Waluke has surrendered to police after the High Court upheld his 67-year prison sentence over Ksh.297 million fraud.

This comes 24 hours after Judge Esther Maina on Thursday dismissed his appeal, ruling that the prosecution had proved its case against him.

According to Judge Maina, the charges were proven beyond a reasonable doubt and the sentence is not excessive because it is within the law.

Waluke's co-accused, Grace Wakhungu, was taken into custody immediately after the ruling and is presently being detained at the Lang'ata Women's Prison.

The MP filed a 30-point document in June 2020, through his lawyers, detailing what he called inconsistencies and a lack of independence in reaching the guilty verdict.

He also challenged his conviction, claiming it was based on an incorrect charge sheet.

The legislator claimed that critical witnesses were never called to testify in the two-year-old case.

He also claimed that the anti-corruption court failed the impartiality and independence test, alleging that politics played a role in the conviction and sentencing.

The legislator's sentencing came in the wake of a graft case in which he was accused of defrauding the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) of Ksh.313 million.

The MP was charged alongside Grace Sarapay Wakhungu, and Erad Supplies & General Contracts Limited (Erad); a company where the two are shareholders.

Waluke and Wakhungu, through the company, were supposed to supply 40,000 metric tonnes of maize to NCPB in 2004 but ended up pocketing the said amount without supplying even a single grain of maize.

The tender was however cancelled after Erad Supplies, a company in which the late businessman Jacob Juma was also a director, failed to prove it had sufficient funds to supply the maize.

The company later moved to court and sued NCPB claiming that by the time the tender was being cancelled, it had already procured the maize from Ethiopia and that it was being stored by Chelsea Freight, a South African firm, in Djibouti.