This archive report was first published on 19 September 2019.
Published on September 19, 2019, the High Court in Nairobi has ordered directors of Italian firm CMC Di Ravenna to appear in court and take plea over the Kimwarer and Arror Dams scandal.
Issuing the orders, Justice Mumbi Ngugi stated that the decision by the firm's lawyer to take plea on behalf of the company was not right.
The prosecution alleged that Kenyan officials implicated in the dams scandal awarded CMC Di Ravenna a contract for construction of the two dams despite the firm having successfully filed for bankruptcy proceedings back in Italy.
The cost of building the two dams was allegedly inflated to Ksh. 63 billion from an original cost of Ksh. 46 billion.
Advance payments of Ksh. 19 billion were made by the government, including Ksh. 11 billion in unnecessary debt insurance, which prosecutors said was shared out in accounts belonging to the conspirators and their agents.
CMC di Ravenna has denied any links to those arrangements.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich, his Principal Secretary Kamau Thugge, and 10 other officials have since been charged over the multibillion-shilling Kimwarer and Arror dams scandal.
