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Ex-IEBC official Shollei freed after paying Ksh7.5M fine in Ksh1.3B graft case

Ex-IEBC official Shollei freed after paying Ksh7.5M fine in Ksh1.3B graft case
Court hammer. PHOTO/Internet
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Former IEBC official Wilson Shollei is now a free man after paying the Ksh7.5 million fine imposed on him by a corruption court over his involvement in the procurement of Ksh1.3 billion tender for the supply of the 2013 general election materials.

Shollei, who had started serving his four-year jail term at the Nairobi Remand Prison on December 5, 2022, was freed days later after managing to raise the fine.

Together with former IEBC CEO James Oswago, the former IEBC’s Deputy Secretary in charge of Support Services had been found guilty by an Anti-Corruption Court, in counts 1 and 3, of willful failure to comply with the law relating to procurement (Count One) and of abuse of office (Count Two) when they procured electronic Voter Identification Devices for the March 4, 2013, general election.

Chief Magistrate Felix Kombo, on December 5, sentenced both of them to a total of four-year jail term each with an alternative of a fine of Ksh7.5 million each.

In Count One of willful failure to comply with the law relating to the procurement of goods, Shollei was fined Ksh5 million or to serve 3 years while in Count Three where he was charged with the abuse of office, he was ordered to serve 1 year in jail or pay a fine of Ksh2.5 million.

They were found guilty of using their office improperly to confer a benefit on a Face Technologies Limited company by approving the payment of Ksh1, 397,724,925.51 for the supply of the ballot materials without ascertaining that they were inspected, accepted, and met technical specifications in the contract.

The magistrate noted that Oswago and Shollei were first offenders and had cooperated with the investigators and prosecutors during the court trial.

In his ruling, Kombo further said it was incumbent upon Oswago and Shollei to advise the commission plenary sitting on the procurement of the devices and any variations would have required amendment of the contract to be approved by the tender committee.

The court found that the duo failed to ensure that the changes made to the contract awarded to Face Technologies Limited for the supply of Electronic Voter Identification devices were approved by the IEBC’s tender committee.

 “The court has considered the challenges associated with elections. But elections must be handled with care. Oswago and Shollei were not faithful to the procurement process leading to a crisis,” the magistrate said.

He ruled that the pair, being officers whose functions concerned the management of public revenue, jointly and willfully failed to comply with the law relating to the procurement of goods according to section 47 of the Public Procurement and Disposal Act and Regulation 31 of the Public Procurement and Disposal Regulations.

“Both of them had a legal duty to ensure the procurement breaches were not committed,” Kombo ruled.

“Failure to conduct inspection had consequences to the general election. They would have ensured the kits met all the specifications and the supplier delivered the right quantity and in the right schedule,” the court said.

Aggrieved by the conviction and sentence, Shollei filed an application before High Court judge Esther Maina seeking bail pending appeal.

But on December 15, 2022, Shollei abandoned the application after he was able to pay the fine.  His lawyer told the court that he had since been released and now wished to amend the application before the court.

As a consequence, Justice Maina allowed Shollei’s request for withdrawal of the application and allowed him to amend the appeal challenging the conviction and sentence.

On December 15, 2022, we inadvertently reported that former IEBC’s Deputy Secretary in charge of Support Services Wilson Shollei was convicted in the ‘Chickengate’ scandal case where some electoral officials had been accused of bribery. We have since established that Shollei was not an accused person in the ‘Chickengate’ scandal case.

We hereby unreservedly apologize to Mr. Shollei and his family for the error.

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