Mr Hillary Sigei, a managing partner at Sing’oei Murkomen and Sigei Advocates, when he appeared before the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee on December 8, 2016. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO
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MPs question Hillary Sigei in relation to bank transactions involving more than Sh15 million.
A lawyer linked to Elgeyo-Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen was Thursday hard pressed to explain suspicious bank transactions believed to be linked to the theft of Sh1.8 billion at the National Youth Service (NYS).
Hillary Sigei, the managing partner at Sing’oei Murkomen and Sigei Advocates, could not for instance explain why Sh500,000 was paid to him on August 28, 2015 from the firm’s Family Bank client account.
The payment was made a week after Sh7 million was credited to the account by Out of the Box Solutions, a company linked to the NYS scam.
The company had on the same day deposited Sh8 million in the Sing’oei Murkomen and Sigei Advocates clients’ account at the Cooperative Bank.
Details have emerged showing that the law firm received Sh15 million from Out of the Box Solutions.
“The money was paid in the normal cause of advocate-client relationship, for onward transmission to Kigen and Company Advocates in Eldoret for purchase of property by OBSL,” Mr Sigei told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chaired by Rarieda MP Nicholas Gumbo.
He denied claims that the firm had benefited from the NYS loot, maintaining that controversial businessman Ben Gethi was a former client.
Mr Sigei said that Sing’oei Murkomen and Sigei Advocates was one of the firms instructed by Mr Gethi to represent him before the Banking Fraud Investigation Unit of the Central Bank of Kenya.
“We ceased to represent him on September 3. Unfortunately, even before we were able to request an invoice from him, his accounts were frozen following eruption of the NYS scam,” he said.
Mr Sigei said that the firm had not received payment from Mr Gethi for services offered between July 21 and September 3, 2015.
In her affidavit filed in court in February, former Devolution Secretary Ann Waiguru linked Deputy President William Ruto’s personal assistant Farouk Kibet and Mr Murkomen to the loss of funds at the NYS.
Ms Waiguru claimed that Mr Kibet, whom she said is a close associate of Mr Gethi, was part of a larger cartel that stole millions from the NYS through fraudulent tendering.
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