Ex-KRA Manager Facing Prison Sentence Over Multi-million Scam 

Former Kenya Revenue Authority Senior Manager Robert Maina Ngumi was on Thursday, May 27, convicted for soliciting and receiving bribes from a businessman. 

Nairobi Anti-Corruption Magistrate Lawrence Mugambi, during his ruling, fined the former Domestic Taxes Administrator Ksh2 million over the incident that happened six years ago.

The magistrate also ordered Ngumi to serve 18 months imprisonment in default.

According to the state prosecution, Ngumi had allegedly solicited a Ksh15 million bribe so that he could reduce tax arrears of Ksh439.9 million to Ksh18.6 million.

EACC CEO Mr. Twalib Mbarak after presenting a cheque to the Chairperson of the Kenya Covid-19 Fund, Jane Karuku on April 28, 2020.
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This led to a sting operation which was carried out by Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission (EACC) detectives who managed to catch the former KRA senior manager red-handed, quite literally.

"The cash received by Ngumi was EACC Kenya treated money which was recovered from him at the time of arrest," reads a statement from the anti-graft agency in part.

On the same day, May 27, 2020, Anti-Corruption Court Magistrate Felix Kombo, ruled that former Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chief Executive Officer, James Oswago and his co-accused Wilson Kiprotich have a case to answer over a Ksh1.3 billion voter identification devices tender scandal. 

The two were among four individuals charged with abuse of office and failing to comply with procurement regulations relating to electronic voter identification kits which failed during the March 4, 2013, General Election.

However, the 2 other suspects, Edward Kenga and Willy Gachanja, were acquitted by the Magistrate, who went on to state that the charges against them could not stand.

On July 1, 2016, the joint parliamentary committee looking into a petition to remove the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission bosses from office was told that the country lost Ksh4.1 billion in the procurement of 15,000 Biometric Voter Registrations which malfunctioned on election day.

Auditor General at the time, Edward Ouko said that a Special Audit of the procurement of election materials revealed that the poll agency did not have a procurement plan which was required, and as such, they had no documentation to guide them in the process.

Former Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission CEO James Oswago arrives at the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission offices at Integrity Centre on February 26, 2016.
Daily Nation