by Nancy Gitonga
@PeopleDailyKe
The high cost of corruption is starting to crystallise as the courts hand out hefty fines and lengthy jail sentences to convicts.
Courts have in recent decisions handed down stiff sentences for economic crimes to send a strong message that it will not be business as usual for those who engage in corrupt dealings and theft of public money.
Yesterday, the Milimani Anti-Corruption Court slapped a former finance manager at the Kenya Water Resources Management Authority James Omondi Ambuso with a fine of Sh7.6 million for demanding and receiving bribes amounting to Sh910,000 or in default, a jail term of 24 years.
Ambuso was jailed by Milimani Anti-Corruption Court Magistrate Eunice Nyutu who found him guilty of four counts of soliciting and receiving bribes totalling Sh910,000 from regional managers of the water agency in Mombasa and Tana Catchment area.
While sentencing the accused, Nyutu said public officers have a duty to safeguard public funds and those who would do the opposite will have themselves to blame.
“The accused person was a public officer and had a duty to safeguard public resources, however he did the opposite and used those funds to benefit himself,” Nyutu said. The magistrate added: “l want to send a strong message to public officers that the use of public funds for personal enrichment will not be condoned.”
Nyutu noted the offence against Ambuso occurred between 2012 and 2013 before the repealing of the Bribery Act.
Yesterday’s sentence came only a day after the Anti-Corruption Court sentenced a former National Social Security Fund (NSSF) Investment Manager, Francis Zuriels Moturi, and three stockbrokers to a total of 20 years in prison or a total fine of Sh10 billion for hatching a scheme to defraud the pensioners’ fund of more than Sh1.2 billion a decade ago.
The four, together with a stock brokerage firm, were handed the stiff sentence by Milimani Anti-Corruption Chief Magistrate Lawrence Mugambi after he found them guilty of several counts of looting the millions from the Fund in a fictitious purchase of shares more than twelve years ago.
Under the sentence, Moturi will serve a total of 14 years in jail or pay a fine of Sh2.402 billion after he was found guilty of conspiring to defraud NSSF of Sh1.2 billion through a collapsed stock brokerage firm in 2008.
Crystal clear
“Although it is not evident or not demonstrated that Moturi received quantifiable benefit, it was crystal clear that through his actions, NSSF lost a staggering Sh1.2 billion. Under section 48 (2) of the ACECA, the amount of the fine payable shall be as per section 2 (a) which is a mandatory fine equal to the amount of two times benefit or loss in sub-section 1 (b) of the ACECA. In this case, therefore, Moturi is liable to a fine of Sh2.4 billion, in default to serve nine years in prison,” Mugambi ruled while convicting Moturi on the charge of deceiving by principal.
On the second charge of conspiracy to defraud, the magistrate handed Moturi a custodial sentence of five years or Sh2 million fine.
However, David Githaiga, Wilfred Weru and Isaac Nyamongo, who were officials of Discount Securities Limited (DSL), were each fined Sh802 million, or in default, serve five years behind bars for the offences of fraudulent acquisition of public property and conspiracy to defraud NSSF.
The magistrate also ordered the trading firm which is under liquidation since 2008 to compensate the NSSF Sh4.8 billion being the amount that was lost.
The courts maintain that the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act is clear on penalties for economic crimes.
While passing the sentences, the courts have been considering several sections including section 48(2)(b) of Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act (ACECA).
The section provides that if the conduct that constituted the offence resulted in both a benefit and loss described in section 48(1)(b) the mandatory fine is equal to the two times the amount of the benefit and the amount of the loss.
In June 2020, a trial magistrate Elizabeth Juma sentenced Sirisia MP John Waluke to 67 years or pay fine of more than Sh700 million for defrauding the National Cereals and Produce Board.
His co-accused Grace Wakhungu was on her part handed a 69-year jail term and a fine of almost similar amount.
The magistrate said Waluke and Wakhungu are to serve the lengthy jail terms if they do not pay the fines.
The two were to serve the cumulative jail terms as individuals and on behalf of Erad Supplies and General Contractors as the directors.
The trial magistrate said because the company cannot be jailed as an entity, its directors will pay for the crimes committed, hence the enhanced sentences.
They later appealed the sentence and are out on bond.
Same magistrate
And in September last year, the same magistrate convicted former Sports Cabinet Secretary Hassan Wario to a six-year jail term for abusing his office in connection to the Rio 2016 Olympics scandal.
Wario had an option of paying a fine of Sh3.6 million, which he paid and walked to freedom.
His colleague in the scandal Stephen Arap Soi, who was the Chef De Mission of Team Kenya in the 2016 Olympic Games, was not as lucky after the court slapped him with a fine of over Sh115 million.
Juma fined Soi, a former National Olympic Committee of Kenya (Nock) official, a fine of Sh115 million or in default serve 17 years in prison.
The retired police boss was found guilty of six counts –three on abuse of office and three on wilful failure to comply with applicable procedures and guidelines relating to management of public funds.
And last year, Chief Magistrate Douglas Ogoti also sentenced businessman Mukuria Ngamau to a 27-year jail term or an alternative fine of Sh720.8 million for defrauding the Youth Enterprise Development Fund of Sh180 million eight years ago.
This was after finding Ngamau, a Director of Quorandum Limited guilty of five counts of looting Sh180 million from the fund for services not rendered.
Others who have faced similar convictions and jail terms include former director of the Kenya Medical Research Institute Davy Koech, the late former Nairobi City town clerk John Gakuo, former Local Government permanent secretary Sammy Kirui and former nominated senator Joy Gwendo.
