The Anti-Corruption Magistrate Douglas Ogoti has issued warrants of arrest for 19 Italians over the Sh51 billion Kimwarer and Arror dams scandal.
The prosecution made the application after the Italians failed to turn up in court to plead to corruption charges.
The 19, who were charged alongside former Finance Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich and his former Principal Secretary Kamau Thugge, were not represented by an advocate.
The court was also told that accused number eight, Di Ravenna Italy and whose warrant of arrest has been in effect for a while, is nowhere to be found.
The prosecution has requested 30 days to report back on the warrants of arrest.
Former Treasury CS Rotich and his PS, Dr. Thugge, had pleaded afresh sometimes back to charges relating to the irregularaties in the conceptualization, procurement and initiation of the Kimwarer and Arror dams.
The two were charged alongside former East Africa Community PS Susan Koech, former Kerio Valley Development Authority (KVDA) managing director David Kimosop, former chief economist and head of Europe II Division Kennedy Nyachiro, Jackson Kinyanjui and Titus Muriithi.
The seven now face 31 counts after the prosecution consolidated the Arror and Kimwarer files into one.
The prosecution also included 16 directors of CMC Di Ravenna Italy and CMC Di Ravenna Kenya branch in the new charge sheet, but they did not plead to the charges as they were not in court.
The former Treasury chief is accused of conspiring with his PS and 25 others to defraud the government of Kenya over Sh50.1 billion in respect of development of the two multipurpose dams.
They allegedly entered into the construction of the two dams, a project they knew was not approved and as a consequence they improperly secured a commercial loan under the guise of Government of Kenya thus making the government liable as a financier and borrower.
Mr. Rotich, Dr. Thugge, Mr. Koech, Mr. Kimosop, Mr. Nyachiro and Mr. Kinyanjui faced two other counts of willful failure to comply with applicable law relating to procurement.
Mr. Rotich, the two PSs and Kimosop were also accused of engaging in a project without prior planning.
He was further charged with two counts of abuse of office while Thugge was charged with five counts of abuse of office.
The case will be mentioned on March 26, 2020.
