Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji has applied to withdraw corruption charges against former principal secretary Lillian Mbogo-Omollo, adding to the growing list of graft cases with a cumulative value of more than Sh10 billion, which have collapsed so far.
Mr Haji applied to withdraw charges against the former PS for Public Service and Youth Affairs, who was charged in May 2018 with the alleged loss of Sh468 million at the National Youth Service (NYS).
The withdrawal will join the high-profile cases that have been dropped including that of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, Public Service Cabinet secretary Aisha Jumwa and former National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) officials, including former CEO Geoffrey Mwangi.
Mr Gachagua’s Sh7.3 billion case was withdrawn last year, including that of Mary Wambui Muigai, who was facing Sh2.5 billion in tax evasion charges.
Mr Mwangi and others were facing charges over the alleged loss of Sh1.1 billion at NHIF and the case was withdrawn, same as that against former Kenya Power officials, including former managing director Ben Chumo who had been accused of committing economic crimes by fraudulently procuring transformers worth over Sh400 million.
Mr Mwangi had been charged with conferring a benefit by authorising payment of more than Sh253 million to Web Tribe Ltd, a company contracted to collect payments on behalf of the NHIF.
In the latest application filed before an anti-corruption court in Milimani, the DPP applied to withdraw abuse of office and conspiracy to commit felony charges, among others, against the former PS for Public Service and Youth Affairs.
The DPP applied to withdraw charges against Ms Omollo under section 87 (a) of the criminal procedure code, saying none of the witnesses who have testified in the cases so far, has implicated her directly or indirectly.
The DPP said in the application that the payments were concluded before Ms Omollo was appointed to office and that she appointed a verification committee that only ensured payable pending bills were recommended for payment, once she took over the post on December 18, 2015.
“That it is in the interest of the administration of justice and the need to prevent and avoid abuse of court process that the instant application should be allowed,” said senior principal prosecution counsel Vera Hamisi in the application.
Ms Omollo was charged on May 29, 2018, together with senior officials of NYS, including former director-general Richard Ndubai, 30 other civil servants in the senior, middle and lower cadre as well as suppliers to the state agency.
They faced multiple charges, which were divided into three cases. So far, 12 witnesses have testified in all the cases.
The DPP said in the application that the procurement process involving the concerned payments was concluded before Ms Omollo was appointed to office and there were numerous pending bills in NYS dating back to the financial year 2013/2014 incurred before her appointment.
The DPP said Ms Omollo was not the Authority to Incur Expenditure holder responsible for approving accountable documents such as payment vouchers and local purchase orders, among other accountable documents presented before the different courts.
The case will be mentioned on June 16.
“It was not within the 1st Accused person’s scope of work to receive and approve the accountable documents which are questioned in the ongoing cases,” the application stated.
Ms Omollo applied to the DPP’s office for a review of her charges in September 2020 but did not get a response until he filed the application.
She had pointed out that immediately after she assumed office, she encountered over 5,000 payment claims worth Sh10 billion from various suppliers to the NYS.
Some of the claims, she said, dated back to the 2013/2014 financial years when NYS was under the Ministry of Devolution and Planning.
“Having regard to the high number of claims and the amounts demanded by the suppliers, I diligently took various steps to ensure the pending bills were verified before any decision to settle them was taken,” she said in her application for review.
She explained that she initiated multiple and extensive financial and management controls to strengthen NYS financial systems, controls and cost containment in good faith but was instead, arrested and charged.
The charges against her stated that she conspired with her co-accused to commit corruption, an offence she allegedly did on diverse dates between April 6, 2016, and May 13, 2017.
Read: Bad year for DPP as high-profile corruption cases collapse
Other charges were abuse of office and failure to comply with applicable procedures and guidelines relating to the management of public funds. The prosecution said she failed to comply with the law and guidelines by authorising payments to various suppliers.
Ms Omollo defended herself saying she was not responsible for the approval of payments as available accounting documents and IFMS footprints identify with certainty the origin and responsibility of all purchasing orders, invoices and payments generated and transacted by the NYS.
