Former Kenya Medical Research Institute boss Davy Kiprotich Koech has been convicted of fraud charges involving up to Ksh19.6M.
In his judgement, Magistrate Victor Wakumile found Koech guilty of transferring Ksh 19.6 Million from the bank accounts of the research institute to his personal accounts. The said amounts had been specifically set aside for research at the Centre for Disease Control in Kisumu.
The former KEMRI boss committed the offence on August 7, 2006 at KEMRI offices in Nairobi.
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Koech faced three counts of abuse of office and fraudulent acquisition of public property contrary to the law.
The prosecution through Hellen Mutela, asked the court to order Koech to pay the fine in full or risk serve a prison term. The convict's lawyer, Denis Maina, pleaded with the court to grant his client the liberty of paying the amount in instalments.
"We object the application for the fine to be paid in full, since the offence was committed 15 years ago. My client is however in a position to pay the amount in five instalments," the lawyer argued.
The magistrate overruled his plea and ordered the convict to pay the fine in two instalments of Ksh9.8m each, or risk serving a six-year jail term in default.
