Former Busia County director and head of development has denied conspiring to defraud Ksh8 million from the county by engaging in projects without proper planning.
In his defence before Anti-corruption senior principal magistrate Eunice Nyutu, Samuel Oseko said that all revenue in Busia County was kept by the controller of budget and there was no day that money was withdrawn from the County Government in contravention of the law.
Oseko told the court that all procedures were followed for getting money to make any payments.
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"It is my testimony that section 109 was followed and nobody has been charged with withdrawing money from the county without authorization. The procedure was well followed," he told the court.
He was testifying in his defence after the court found him, former Busia Governor Sospeter Ojaamong and his co-accused persons, namely Bernard Aite, Leonard Wanda, Allan Omachari, Edan Odoo, Renish Omullo, Sebasian Hallensben and Madam R Enterprises with a case to answer.
They were charged in 2018 with a conspiracy to commit an economic crime.
He said that the money paid to Madam R Enterprise was public money and it was withdrawn from Busia County upon authorization by the controller of budget.
Oseko said section 109 (2) of the public finance Act was never violated as all the withdrawals were guided by the law.
"There is no way you could access money from the County without the approval of the controller of budget. This manual was launched and signed by the (former) CS of National Treasury then Henry Rotich," he said.
“I am an accused and the forms used as evidence in this court would have been gone through for any evidence before being charged but they did not, it is my testimony that the form B that came in relation to the money paid to Madam R enterprises was approved by the controller of budget.”
He added that he was charged with a charge of conspiracy. However, the prosecution did not point him to the crime.
“The witnesses were here and witness number 19 (Abraham) who was the IO in this matter, testified before this court and confirmed that indeed he did not recommend me to be charged. He said that from the investigation he did not get evidence to associate me with any wrongdoing. Pw 20 (Muga Wahome) also confirmed that he too did not recommend me to be charged, he said he was not aware if there was another investigator who did further investigation and recommended my charging,” he said.
The hearing continues on Tuesday.
Former Busia governor charged
Last year, the court admitted documentary evidence relied on by one of the defence witnesses who was testifying for Ojamong.
The former governor is separately charged with engaging in a project without prior planning and abuse of office.
Others are accused of wilfully failing to comply with the law relating to the management of funds.
They are accused of knowingly approving payments amounting to Ksh8,000,000 to Madam R Enterprises Ltd for a feasibility study on solid waste management, a project for which funding had not been appropriated.
They were placed on their defence after the prosecution called 20 witnesses. Ojamong gave an unsworn statement in June 2021 and defended the Ksh8 million spent on the study by Madam R Enterprises, an alleged German company.
