The Anti-Corruption Court sitting in Nairobi has sentenced former National Social Security Fund (NSSF) investment manager Francis Zuriels Moturi to a total of 14 years in jail or pay a fine of Ksh2.6 billion.
Chief Magistrate Lawrence Mugambi handed over the stiff sentence to Moturi after convicting him for the offence of conspiracy to defraud and deceive NSSF.
However, three stockbrokers will pay a total fine of Ksh2.7 billion for the offence of conspiracy to defraud NSSF.
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The court has however ordered Discount Security Limited to compensate NSSF Ksh4.8 billion.
While passing the sentence, the magistrate noted that pensioners suffered immensely due to the mismanagement of their funds under Moturi's watch at NSSF.
Mugambi said that it is the duty of public officers entrusted with public funds to ensure that they are managed properly for the benefit of the taxpayers and the general public.
The magistrate concurred with the submissions by the Director of Public Prosecution that deterrent sentences are the only cure for those who misappropriate and mismanage public funds.
He said that Moturi not only mismanaged public funds but also gave it out to the collapsed Discount Security Limited which has been under liquidation since 2008.
The DSL is being managed by the state law office after being placed under statutory management.
The company came into the limelight when EACC lodged investigations at NSSF and discovered colossal sums had been moved to its Bank account and no shares had been bought as per the instructions from the fund.
Under the ACECA rules, a person who is found liable to have occasioned the loss of public funds and benefited from proceeds of crime is compelled to pay a mandatory fine.
"The prosecution invites the court to take cognisance of the gravity of the offence which the accused has been convicted of. This is a corruption and economic crime offence where ACECA has prescribed severe punishment in order to curb incidences of corruption in public offices," state prosecutor Gakobo said.
In mitigation, the defence lawyers led by senior counsel Assa Nyakundi urged the court to exercise its discretion which has not been taken away under the ACECA rules.
He asked the court to exercise utmost leniency and impose a non-custodial sentence to Moturi and the stockbrokers.
The lawyer submitted that Moturi is a situational victim and that there is no evidence showing that he benefited from the proceeds of crime.
"My client who is turning 72 years was caught in the fog as he never benefited from the amounts in question. He served the public all his years devotedly," Nyakundi said.
