Deputy President William Ruto has said former Sports CS Rashid Echesa’s access and entry into his Harambee Annex office in connection with the Kshs 39.5 billion fraudulent arms deal was a breach of security. In a statement released hours after the emergence of a CCTV footage showing Echesa and two other men at Harambee Annex , DP Ruto said the entry which was aided by security officers was a breach of security and termed the suspects as crooks and cartels, “We appreciate efforts made by the Director of Criminal Investigations to investigate the fraudulent access to the office of the Deputy President by crooks and cartels as well as investigations into the death of sergeant Kipyegon Kenei.”
Earlier on Thursday, DCI George Kinoti dismissed as fiction information that Echesa and the other suspects spent only 23 minutes at the DP’s office, a sentiment shared by the Deputy President himself. He said the suspects were at the office for 1 hour 22 minutes, according to CCTV footage. Moreover, sergeant Kipyegon Kenei who was attached to the DP’s office and was found dead at his Imara Daima home after the fake weapons saga caught up, was murdered according to the DCI. What was earlier muted as a possible suicide now is a clear murder case, with different factors contributing to that conclusion according to DCI Kinoti, including the placement of the gun at the crime scene, the location of blood stains, where the cartridge was found among other factors.
DCI Kinoti also said the DCI officers were denied access to the whole footage covering the events of February 13th, the day in question and instead were only shown 23 minutes. Thy were denied access to extract footage from the server, noting that some footage was edited to conceal the role Kipyegon Kenei played in the deal. Deputy President Ruto has called for the investigations into Kenei’s murder to be expedited, and on the issue of time spent in his office, the statement notes that Echesa and the others involved in the deal were in the DP’s office for only 24 minutes, the rest of the time played by the CCTV was spent outside the DP’s office.
