A senior Vihiga County official who evaded the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission’s (EACC’s) dragnet on Wednesday, June 12, 2024, has been arrested.
Eugene Wandera Wamalwa who serves as Principal Quantity Surveyor at the Vihiga County government was on Friday, June 14, 2024, arrested by EACC officers.
EACC officers presented him before the Kakamega Anti-Corruption Court after his arrest, where he denied the corruption charges leveled against him.
Remanded
Kakamega Principal Magistrate Joseph Ndururi ordered that he be remanded until July 1, 2024, when the ruling on his bail application will be delivered.
“Vihiga County Principal Quantity Surveyor Eugene Wandera Wamalwa who went into hiding to evade EACC arrest on Wednesday has been arrested and remanded at Kakamega GK Prison,” EACC said in a statement on Friday, June 14, 2024.
Wamalwa was to be charged alongside 11 other officials of the Vihiga County government who were arrested on Wednesday, June 12, 2024, in an operation conducted by EACC in Nairobi, Eldoret, Kisumu and Vihiga.
“QS. Wamalwa was arrested by EACC and presented before the Kakamega Anti-Corruption Court where he denied the charges leveled against him. Principal Magistrate Hon. Joseph Ndururi ordered that he be remanded until 1st July 2024, when the ruling on bail will be delivered,” EACC said.
Embezzling funds
The 11 officials were charged on Thursday, June 13, 2024, before the Kakamega Anti-Corruption Court for embezzling Ksh17 million at the county government.
According to EACC, the said funds were embezzled through payments for non-existent works in the purported construction of a Blood Transfusion Centre in Vihiga to help patients in critical condition.
The 11 pleaded not guilty to the charges and were each released on Ksh1 million bond or an alternative of Ksh300,000 cash bail.
The officers accused of embezzlement in the Vihiga County government are Arnold Kimiyia Mamadi (Chief Officer, Medical Services), Godfrey Oyaro (Director, Procurement), Eugene Wandera Wamalwa (Principal Quantity Surveyor), Wesley Ng’ang’a Asubwa (Architect), Sunday Undisa Mwangi (Supply Chain Management Officer), and Vincent Juma Munyere (Supply Chain Management Officer).
Others are Laura Naliaka Kisaka (Supply Chain Management Officer), Eddy Omutto Mirera (Director, Ediettrium Consultancy Services), Simon Kiama Maina (Director, Sava Construction Limited), Anastacia Njeri Kaguri (Director, Sava Construction Limited), and Dalton Benson Amukoa (Director, Dalton Investments).
Their arrest came after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Renson Ingonga concurred with EACC’s recommendation to charge them with conspiracy to commit an offence of corruption, abuse of office, willful failure to comply with the law relating to procurement, fraudulent acquisition of public property and uttering false documents.
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