The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji has dropped drop charges against 14 accused persons in the Sh4.2 billion Lake Basin scam case.
When the matter came up for mention on March 22 before Nairobi Chief Magistrate Douglas Ogoti, senior state counsel James Kihara informed the court that his boss has given the nod to have the charges against 14 suspects dropped.
“That Haji has reviewed the evidence on record and he has given a formal instructions to withdraw 14 accused persons and make them state witnesses,” Kihara told the court.
However, Babasi MP Innocent Obiri and 10 other co-accused persons whose charges have not been dropped were charged afresh with over 20 counts.
Former Kisumu County Assembly Speaker Onyango Oloo, who did not appear in court, did not plead to the new charges.
But the prosecution sought a warrant of arrest to be issued against him for skipping court.
In the case, the former Speaker was accused of conspiring with the contractors including Zeyun Yang and Zhang Jing, directors of Edermann Property Limited, to defraud the public billions of shillings.
The firm was accused of bribing Oloo, then the chairman of the board, with Sh17 million and other benefits, including apartments and shops.
In the first count, the court heard between January 21, 2013 and May20, 2018, the MD and Board of Directors of LBDA, the consultants and main contract conspired to defraud LBDA of Sh667,275,202 in a tender for construction, development and financing of a retail mail at Kanyakwar, Kisumu town.
Oloo, Aguko, the MP, Yang and Jing were charged alongside the Mall’s Board members, tender committee members, contractors among other suspects.
The accused denied charges of conspiracy to defraid, willful failure to comply with law relating to procurement, unlawful charging of public property, corruptly receiving and unlawful acquisition of public property.
The prosecution said that the accused persons conspired to inflate the cost of the construction of the mall from Sh2.5 billion to Sh4.1 billion.
The Board members are also accused of approving the borrowing of Sh1.2 billion from Co-operative Bank, bringing the total borrowing to Sh2.5 billion.
According to the charges, the tender was awarded on March 14, 2013 and former LBDA boss Aguko and ex-chairman David Oyosi executed the agreement.
It is said that on Erdemann’s side, Zhang Jing and Zeyun Yang who are directors of the company, executed the agreement.
Aguko and Oloo are further accused of executing three charges over LBDA’s land for Sh2.5 billion from Co-operative Bank in March 2014, January 2015 and May 2015.
The court heard that the chairman of the LBDA finance committee, George Odawa, allegedly received Sh12 million.
Prosecution said that three firms bid for the tender to build the mall, but all were non-responsive.
The officials were accused of irregularly and unprocedurally approving additional scope of work leading to extra injection of Sh620 million for the Mall and Sh680 million for construction of a showroom, tyre centre and a three star hotel.
