Jayendra Malde arrested over alleged Ksh.5.7M Concord Hotel bribe

Detectives from the anti-graft agency arrested Parklands MCA Jayendra Malde for allegedly demanding a bribe of Ksh.5.7 million from the owner of Concord Hotel in Nairobi.

According to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), Malde wanted to prevent the hotel from being demolished.

“(It was to act) as an inducement to prevail upon the Nairobi Governor. Mike Sonko not to order the demolition of the (Concord) Hotel on riparian land,” the agency said on Twitter.

The money was apparently to be shared among 19 of Malde’s colleagues at the Nairobi County Assembly.

Malde is accused of planning to influence the Governor’s decision on Concord Hotel by bribing MCAs in the Legal Committee.

EACC said he will be charged in court next week.

In the past few weeks, Governor Sonko has spearheaded the demolitions of buildings constructed on riparian land in Nairobi.

Among those that were brought down include Java House and Shell Petrol Station in Kileleshwa; Ukay Centre; South End Mall and a section of Oshwal Centre.

The crackdown is targeting 4000 buildings in the city that were illegally built on land belonging to the public.