Sirisia MP John Waluke and Grace Wakhungu have been found guilty in the Kshs 297 million National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) fraud case, in a ruling delivered by Magistrate Elizabeth Juma on Monday at the Milimani law courts. The two will be held at the Kileleshwa police station, pending their sentencing on Thursday, 25th June. The Sirisia MP has been aquitted in two counts among them uttering a false document.
Waluke, Wakhungu and Erad Suppliers and General Contractors Limited had been accused of fraudulently acquiring money from the NCPB. The two were charged in connection with a deal to store 40,000 tonnes of maize in 2004, whereby they fraudulently acquired money for loss of profit and interest allegedly incurred by Chelsea Freight and cost of storage of the maize. They also presented a false invoice in 2009 of Kshs 114 million, as evidence in the arbitration dispute between the Company (Erad) and NCPB.
The two had gone to the High Court to try and halt the case against them, but Justice Mumbi Ngugi declined to stop the case. She had pointed out that the centre of dispute was the invoice in respect to storage charges of maize amounting to 40,000 tonnes. On that basis, the accused received Kshs 114.6 million from NCPB. She said if storage charges were based on a fraudulent document, then no maize was ordered and the allegd loss of profits may also not be true.
