Sirisia MP John Walukhe will lose his seat after a Nairobi Court found him guilty in a Sh297 million National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) fraud case.
He and former Environment CS Judy Wakhungu’s mother, Grace Wakhungu, who was also found guilty, will be held at Kileleshwa Police Station pending their sentencing on June 25.
Walukhe was however acquitted on two counts of uttering documents by false pretence.
“The court found that there was fraud and the accused acquired money by false pretences,” magistrate Elizabeth Juma ruled on Monday.
Last month, the two sought to stop their prosecution but their application was denied by Judge Mumbi Ngugi who noted that the orders sought had been overtaken by events.
“If storage charges were based on a fraudulent document it may well be that no maize had been ordered and the award in respect to the alleged loss of profit may also have been unmerited and therefore a fraudulent acquisition of public funds.
“In the circumstances, this case does not qualify as one of the clear cases in which the court can be satisfied that the prosecution does not have a proper legal and factual foundation to mount a prosecution,” Ngugi said in her May 21 judgement.
The two were charged alongside a director at Erad Supplies and General Contractors Ltd.
The trio is said to have received the aforementioned amount of money on March 19, 2013 as the cost of storage of 40,000 metric tonnes of white maize that was to be supplied to NCPB.
While entering his “not guilty” plea, Walukhe applied for conservatory orders stoping NCPB, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the magistrate’s court from proceeding with the trial, pending hearing of the application.
This was in August 2018. The application was only rejected by the court on January 30, forcing the MP to proceed with the trial.
Should the legislator be sentenced to more than six months behind bars, he stands to lose his seat.
Article 22 (2) (g) of the Constitution provides that a person is disqualified from being an elected member of Parliament if they are subject to imprisonment for at least six months if found to have misused or abused a State office or public office.
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