Former Kenya Pipeline boss Joe Sang acquitted in Ksh.1.9B Kisumu Oil Jetty case
Exactly four years ago on December
7, 2018, the then Managing Director of the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) Joe Sang was arrested and processed at the Directorate
of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
He and four other officials
spent the night in police cells until they were presented in court the
following week and freed on bail.
And after four years, Joe
Sang and five former senior officers of KPC have now been acquitted.
They are former company Secretary
Gloria Khafafa, former Head of Procurement
Vincent Cheruiyot, Nicholas Gatobu who served as Procurement Manager, General Manager in charge of Infrastructure Billy
Aseka, and GM Finance Samuel Odonyo.
Senior Principal Magistrate
Victor Wakumile observed that despite charges that the officials had
implemented a project that had never been planned for costing Ksh.1.9 billion, the Kisumu oil jetty project was conceived
as early as the year 2006 when most of the accused persons had not joined the
company.
Their mistake, according to the prosecution,
was that they irregularly made payments between June 2016 and June 2017.
Magistrate Wakumile regretted that he
was forced to listen to a matter that should have never been taken to court.
“The evidence here is that they delivered what
no local company had ever done, a project of over Ksh.1.0 billion…so instead of
being appreciated, we ended up vilifying them,” noted the judge.
The judgment by Wakumile
comes just weeks after he allowed the withdrawal of charges against Deputy
President Rigathi Gachagua, after the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) pleaded lack of evidence to sustain a full trial.
The Senior Principal Magistrate regretting having spent years working on a case
that was weak evidentially.
By the time Sang was
arrested, he had notified the KPC board that he would be leaving the company in
four months, by which time he would not be seeking renewal of his contract.
He was however sacked upon
his arrest, as the other accused persons lost their jobs after they were barred
from accessing their offices. It was an emotional relief for them.
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