This archive report was first published on 5 September 2019.
Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko is at the centre of a Sh20 million kickback scandal, with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) investigating claims of corruption in the award of garbage collection tenders for 2017-18 and 2018-19.
According to EACC detectives, some of the firms that won the Sh357 million tender wired more than Sh20 million to Sonko's bank accounts through proxies and sister companies.
However, Sonko has denied receiving any money, insisting that he was not involved in the procurement process and that the payments were made by people in his office without his knowledge.
On Tuesday, Sonko was taken through a marathon eight-hour grilling at Integrity Centre, where he recorded 13 different statements.
He blamed unnamed people in his office for making the payments behind his back, claiming that he had blacklisted the companies and blocked their payments after the Environment committee raised issues.
But EACC investigations have established a complex money trail, with some of the firms wiring part of the cash to bank accounts associated with Anthony Otieno Ombok, a director of Yiro Enterprises and ROG Security Ltd.
Ombok is also associated with Sonko and EALA MP Simon Mbugua, who is a close friend of Sonko.
On April 30 last year, Ombok and Mbugua were charged with robbery with violence in connection with the attack on former NCBDA chairperson Timothy Muriuki at Hotel Boulevard in Nairobi.
The probe is also focusing on claims of procurement irregularities, misappropriation of public funds, inflated payments, fraud, and conflict of interest.
Since the EACC probe became public, Sonko has presented himself as an innocent governor who is only being sought for the sins committed by his employees.
But the investigation threatens to shatter the political career of the first-term governor, who has refused to name a deputy governor almost 21 months after his deputy Polycarp Igathe resigned.
Justice Mumbi Ngugi has ruled that county chiefs charged with corruption should stay away from office, with their roles to be taken over by their deputies for the duration of their trials.
