Former President Uhuru Kenyatta had a role in the Arror and Kimwarer dam projects during his time as Cabinet Minister for the treasury in the grand coalition government.
The ongoing court case on the Arror and Kimwarer dam projects brought to the fore that the former President approved the construction of both dams.
Uhuru then also served as Deputy Prime Minister.
A witness in the case told the court that Uhuru signed the conceptualization and implementation papers of the project and gave the green light for advertisement for tendering.
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The witness served at the Kerio Valley Development Authority (KVDA) Adhoc Technical & Evaluation Tendering Committee.
Former Cabinet Minister for Regional Development Fred Gumo and his Security counterpart, the late John Michuki also appended their signatures on the documents.
In the case, former treasury CS Henry Rotich is accused of playing a role in the embezzlement of funds and irregular award of the tender.
He is being accused alongside former Kerio Valley Development Authority (KVDA) boss David Kimosop, former Chief Economist Kennedy Nyakundi, Jackson Kinyanjui, and Titus Muriithi.
They faced a total of 21 charges ranging from conspiracy to defraud the government, willful failure to comply with procurement rules, abuse of office, engaging in projects without prior planning, failing to comply with laws on managing public funds, and financial misconduct.
The first count stated that Rotich, Kimosop, Nyakundi, Kinyanjui, and Muriithi conspired to defraud the government of USD501,829,769 (Sh54 billion) by entering into a contract for the construction of the Arror and Kimwarer multi-purpose dams without approval.
