Ex-Kenya Pipeline boss Charles Tanui freed on Ksh.700K cash bail in Ksh.30M fraud case

Former Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) Managing Director Charles Kiprotich Tanui and two other senior managers have been freed on a Ksh.700,000 cash bail each after denying abuse of office and fraud charges.

Tanui alongside Elias Maina Karumi (Former Chief Manager-Technical) and Josphat Kipkoech Sirma (Former Chief Electrical Engineer) appeared before Magistrate Douglas Ogoti on Thursday.

The ex-KPC boss was charged with failing to comply with the law relating to procurement by authorizing payment of Euros 261,070 (Ksh.31,987,584) to Redline Limited for three autotransformers on February 18, 2014.

The court heard that Karumi used his office to improperly confer a benefit to Redline Limited by authorising payment of Euros 8,695 (Ksh.1,065,354) on the same date.

Sirma was accused of signing a Material Arrival Advice Note/Inspection Report without lawful authority purporting it to be genuine certifying that works in respect of the tender issued to Redline Limited had been completed successfully.

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) previously said these payments to Redline Limited were made using false documents and that the autotransformers were never installed, tested or commissioned as per the contract agreement.

Magistrate Ogoti, while releasing the three on cash bail, set the pre-trial hearing for August 3, 2020 and directed the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) to disclose evidence in the case by Friday.

The suspects were also ordered to deposit their passports and warned not to approach witnesses in the case otherwise their bail would be cancelled.