Two Nairobi county govt employees, trader to serve four years over corruption

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Two Nairobi County government employees and a trader have been sentenced to four and a half years in jail after being found guilty of corruption among other charges.

Anti-Corrption court Senior Principal Magistrate V. Wakumile jailed Nairobi county government clerical officer III Esther Nyambura Thogori, building Inspector Bonny Stephen Otieno Oduor and a trader George Gachuri Karume over Sh 8.8 million building plan approval monies meant for the county.

Nyambura will serve four and a half years or pay a fine of Sh 10,905,100 million for each of the two counts for conspiracy to commit economic crime and defraud by dishonesty receiving and retaining Sh 8,891,943 building plan approval monies.

Oduor will serve four and a half or pay a fine of Sh 1,080,000 for conspiracy to commit economic crime and conspiracy to defraud.

Trader Karume was sentenced to four and a half years or pay a fine of Sh 18,829,573.

The magistrate ruled that the prosecution demonstrated that the three did not only act with a common intention in committing an economic crime, but they were also able to defraud the Director of Elephant Real Estate Limited who is the complaint Sh 8,891,943.

The magistrate dismissed their mitigation termed it as a mere denial.

According to the magistrate, the testimony given to the court by the convicts shows there exists an intricate web of conspiracy and deceit between some employees within the Nairobi City County Planning and urban department, brokers and gullible victims which is executed with mafia style precision.

Apart from committing an economic crime, the three were also facing charges of jointly conspiring to defraud Chinese Company Li Wen Xue the 8,891,943 purporting it to be building approvals fees by Nairobi County Government.

The Chinese investor produced a certificate of search dated 9th January 2017 and transfer document between Godison 237 limited and Elephant Real Estate limited dated 29th April 2015 as proof that the company owns a parcel of land in Kilimani Estate in Nairobi which it desired to put a building comprising of some 19 floors but their designs were never approved by the County government on the basis that only 8 floors were permitted within the respective zone.

The three faced several other charges among them obtaining money falsely, several counts of making false documents and uttering false documents.