Court asked to dismiss Sirisia MP John Walukes appeal

Court asked to dismiss Sirisia MP John Walukes appeal

The Director of Public Prosecutions has asked the court to dismiss an appeal by Sirisia MP John Waluke.

“The appellants have failed to demonstrate sufficient grounds to warrant the setting aside of the conviction and sentences and thus urges thus court to dismiss the appeal in its entirety,” court papers read.

The prosecution argues that the sentences for the MP and businesswoman Grace Wakhungu were lawful and fair.

This, the prosecution says, is because they were given the option of a non-custodial sentence in terms of fine upon consideration of all the circumstances of the case.

“…..the magistrate court took into consideration the appellant mitigation and the fact they were first offenders before sentencing them as well as the totality of the monies amount involved,” says the prosecution.

Waluke was sentenced to 10 years in prison with an option of paying a fine of Ksh.727 million for defrauding the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) of Ksh.313 million.

The MP was charged alongside Wakhungu, who was also handed a 10-year jail term with the option of paying a Ksh.707 million fine.

The two are shareholders of Erad Supplies & General Contracts Limited (Erad), the company through which they were supposed to supply 40,000 metric tonnes of maize to NCPB in 2004.

They however ended up pocketing Ksh.313 million without supplying even a single grain of maize.

The tender was cancelled after Erad Supplies, a company in which the late businessman Jacob Juma was also a director, failed to prove it had sufficient funds to supply the maize.

The company later moved to court and sued NCPB claiming that by the time the tender was being cancelled, it already had the maize procured from Ethiopia and that it was being stored by Chelsea Freight, a South African firm, in Djibouti.

They claimed that the maize was stored by the South African firm in Djibouti for a period of 123 days for which they were charged USD 1,146,000.00 and that they anticipated profit amounting to USD 1,960,000.

In total the accused demanded compensation of USD 3,106,000.00 as loss of profit and storage charges. Through what is believed to be a fraudulent legal process, the arbitrator awarded Erad USD 3,106,000.00.

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NCPB waluke sirisia MP

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