The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has detailed how Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua fraudulently acquired the Sh200 million he was ordered by High Court to forfeit to State.
In a statement via social media platforms on July 29, the George Kinoti-led agency said that Rigathi used different companies to fraudulently secure government tenders.
DCI noted that the UDA deputy running mate used over 20 proxies who had registered companies.
"Using proxies who had registered over 20 companies, Rigathi obtained over Sh 1.7 Billion from close to 10 government ministries, state departments, parastatals and county governments paid through Rafiki micro-finance. The MP and two of his trusted female associates approached youths and women to register companies and open accounts at Rafiki micro-finance, then used his influence and blackmail to secure tenders for the companies.
"However, one of Rigathi’s trusted confidants and Personal assistant Julianne Jahenda, was made a signatory in all the accounts opened by the suppliers at the micro-finance. In a well-orchestrated and executed plan, the youths were then given loans by the micro-finance and assisted to supply the required goods, most of which were substandard and broke down immediately after being delivered, leading to losses of hundreds of millions of taxpayers money," part of the statement by DCI read.
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According to DCI, hospitals were the most targeted as they took advantage of efforts by County Governments to equip their health facilities and offer specialized health services to the public.
"In one such deal in 2014, a county based in central Kenya received medical equipment worth Sh27.4 million shillings for the supply of dialysis machines and a water treatment plant. The tender for supply of the equipment was awarded to 13 companies all allied to Rigathi. However, the payment was made in a single voucher through Rafiki Micro Finance, then transferred to Rigathi’s personal accounts.
"This is despite the fact that one of the dialysis machines and the water treatment plant supplied were not functional, prompting the national government through Managed Equipment Scheme (MES) to come through by supplying eight dialysis machines and a water treatment plant that are currently in use at the hospital," DCI said.
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DCI added," Shockingly, after the tenders were paid to the proxies’ accounts at Rafiki Micro Finance, Jahenda would immediately transfer the money to other accounts belonging to Rigathi, who would then deposit the monies in other different accounts to avoid detection by our hawk-eyed sleuths.
"In some cases, the poor youths would be compelled to sign blank cheques that would later be cashed and the money deposited to Rigathi’s personal accounts."
Detectives established that there were funds going into Rigathi’s accounts from loans and inter-company transfers, indicating that he was the ultimate beneficiary of the funds received from the counties.
DCI noted that the suppliers were then left paying for the loans that they acquired at the microfinance and supplied junks to county hospitals.
The investigations led to the freezing of Sh201,911,371.28 belonging to the MP by the Assets Recovery Agency.
