KEBS MD Bernard Njiraini among 8 suspects charged with theft of toxic sugar

The eight including three government officers and five business people were charged with various crimes, including,  conspiracy to commit a felony, abuse of office, stealing, interference of goods subject to customs control, and being in possession of restricted goods.

In one of the counts, the prosecutor says that on  ''diverse dates between December 9, 2022, and May 3, 2023, at an unknown place within the Republic of Kenya,  they jointly with others not before the court conspired to steal condemned brown sugar valued at Ksh20,064,000 intended to be used as raw material for distribution of industrial Ethanol the property of Kenya Revenue Authority.''

In another count, the accused, alongside others not before the court,  are placed at Kings Commodities Limited Godown at Makongeni, Thika where they allegedly stole  20,064-50 kilograms of condemned brown sugar valued at Ksh.20 million that had been intended to be used as raw material for distillation of industrial Ethanol the property of KRA.

Kenya Bureau of Standards Managing Director Benard Njiraini, KRA's Deputy Commissioner Joseph Kaguru are separately charged with abuse of office, with the KRA deputy commissioner accused of using his office to arbitrarily single source a company, Vine pack to convert the condemned sugar without competitive bidding.

The eight accused all denied the charges and were released on bond and cash bail terms as they wait for the start of their trial on the sixth of June this year

They pleaded not guilty and were released on a bond of Ksh.800,000 or Ksh.400,000  pending their pre-trial early next month. 

Their release comes as the Kenya Private Sector Alliance lauded what they term as fast and decisive action taken by the head of state in tackling the two cases of graft that have hit his government.

They however say there is a need to streamline the importation process of sugar to ensure that consumers use safe and quality products as sustainable prices.