Court orders Mwangi wa Iria's PA to appear before EACC in Ksh.140M fraud probe

The High Court has ordered former Murang’a Governor Mwangi wa Iria's Personal Assistant Peter Muturi Karanja to appear before the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) on Monday next week.

In the Friday ruling, Justice Nixon Sifuna directed Karanja to pay a Ksh.300,000 cash bail, failure to which his anticipatory bail would lapse, further that he appears before the court on Tuesday.

The court ruling followed an application filed by Wa Iria under a certificate of urgency which barred the commission from effecting his arrest in the Ksh.140 million graft case involving seven other people.

"Justice Sifuna ordered the accused to present himself before EACC on Monday 22nd April 2024 for fingerprint taking and statement recording, then proceed to the Anti-Corruption Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, April 23, 2023, at 9 am to take plea," said the anti-graft agency.

During the hearing, EACC noted that the judge clarified that the conservatory orders secured from the Murang’a High Court by wa Iria only stopped the arrest of three accused persons including the ex-Governor himself, his wife Jane Waigwe Kimani and her brother Solomon Mutura Kimani.

Justice Sifuna thus underscored that the remaining suspects should proceed to take plea in the matter.

This comes after wa Iria was summoned to appear before the EACC on Tuesday this week, but his lawyers showed up instead and put in a request for him to be allowed to postpone his appearance to Wednesday.

Even then, he did not appear for questioning, but instead rushed to a Murang’a court to secure orders barring his arrest.

His wife Jane Waigwe Kimani and her brother Solomon Mutura Kimani were however arrested and arraigned before a Nairobi court.

Wa Iria's other co-accused persons are Patrick Kagumu Mukuria, Jane Wanjiru Mbuthia, David Maina Kiama and  David Mamma Njeri.

The eight are set to be charged over a Ksh.140 million procurement fraud between 2015 and 2016 at the Murang’a County government.

They’re accused of awarding irregular tenders and other procurement irregularities totalling the aforementioned amount.

Investigations carried out by EACC revealed that the suspects fraudulently awarded tenders to Top Image Media Consultancy Limited and Value View Limited with disregard for conflict of interest.