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The case in which Cabinet Secretary nominee for Public Service Aisha Jumwa is facing charges of conspiring to commit fraud by illegally paying Sh19 million will be mentioned today.

This is after Jumwa, who is the immediate former Malindi MP, alongside another suspect, failed to appear before the Mombasa Court for the hearing of the matter.

On Monday, Mombasa Chief Magistrate Martha Mutuku adjourned the matter that had been slated for hearing, after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) through senior State Counsel Henry Kinyanjui, informed the court, that they were seeking more time to review evidence in the graft case.

“The prosecution is not ready to proceed with the hearing. We are requesting the court to allow our application to adjourn and have the matter mentioned in two days’ time since we need to review and introduce new evidence in the matter,” he informed the court.

However, yesterday, when the matter came up for mention, Jumwa through his lawyer Jared Magolo informed the court that she was unable to attend court since she was at the Ethics Anti Corruption offices (EACC) in Nairobi

Mutuku directed the matter to be mentioned today for further directions.

The prosecution had lined up 10 witnesses for the four days the matter was expected to be heard.

Money laundering

In the matter, Jumwa is accused of conspiracy to commit fraud through payment of Sh19 million to Multiserve contractors with respect to tender number MLD/NG-CDF/01/2017/2018 of Malindi NG-CDF.

She has been charged alongside Wachu Omar, Kennedy Otieno, Bernard Riba, Sophia Saidi, Margaret Kalume, Robert Katana and Multiserve contractors.

The offence is alleged to have been committed between May 14 and October 12, 2018, in the Malindi sub-county, Kilifi County.

Jumwa is also facing a separate count of conflict of interest, acquisition of proceeds of crime and money laundering.