Officers probing NYS theft demanded bribes, says lawyer

A Nairobi lawyer at the centre of the Sh791 million National Youth Service (NYS) scam Monday added a new dimension to the saga after he accused Banking Fraud Investigations Unit (BFIU) officers of harassing, intimidating and soliciting for bribes during the investigations.

Patrick Onyango Ogolla told the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that he -- in hind sight -- regretted entering into a business relationship with John Kago and Good Luck Twenty Enterprises, a company associated with businesswoman Josephine Kabura.

“I had no reason to be suspicious of anybody because at the time we were doing this, nobody had ever heard of money being stolen from NYS, nobody knew John Kago, Ben Gethi or Ogolla and Company Advocates,” he said.

Mr Ogolla shocked the committee with claims that seven BFIU sleuths led by Corporal Jeremiah Sautet spent 30 minutes discussing how they had shot dead suspects, implicated some in fraud and demanded bribes to secure their freedom.

“I was summoned to Marshall House where the BFIU is based, put in a room and for nearly 30 minutes the officers only talked about people they had killed or shot,” he said.

“Once they had finished, they turned around and said they knew I had done nothing wrong, but that they also eat and that they don’t eat stones.”

Mr Ogolla went on to report that the officers asked him to give them something “if you want this thing to go well.”

“You must give something that seven people can eat and leave a balance for our boss -- then we will write a report that clears you,” he said, adding that the officers promised to “fix me” if I refused to play ball.

Mr Ogolla said he flatly rejected the demand for bribes while at the same time shaking with fear.

“It was one of the scariest moments of my life. I am not comfortable and I am still in shock,” he said, adding that what followed in the next one year was the freezing of his three accounts and a clients’ account.

“I told the officers that my accounts had already been frozen and the money (Sh103 million) that I transacted had gone out of my account at Sidian Bank,” he said.

Asked whether he had evidence to back his claims, Mr Ogolla said he did not have any because when one is asked for a bribe nobody puts it down in writing as evidence. He, however, said he had recorded the bribery claims in court.

Mr Ogolla said he handled three transactions, one for the purchase of property LR21/1/97 in Rosslyn Estate Nairobi worth Sh60 million for Charity Wangui Gethi, the sister of Ben Gethi – the principal suspect in the NYS scam.

The 2013 transaction went through in four weeks and that is when Mr Ogolla knew Mr Gethi.

Mr Ogolla said he received Sh40 million from John Kago and another Sh23.5 million to complete the transaction.

The second transaction worth Sh63 million by Mr Gethi’s mother, Charity Gethi, was handed over midstream to the law firm of Michael Daud and Associates.

READ: NYS suspects used advocate’s account to transfer millions

Mr Ogolla said his firm prepared the sale and transfer agreement and forwarded it to the firm of Michael Daud and Associates, which acted for both the vendor and the buyer after he was engaged in Mombasa and the transaction needed to be finalised urgently.

“Mr Gethi called me and advised that due to the urgency and inflexibility of the vendor, he had decided to engage the firm of Michael Daud and Associates to take over from me and act for both parties in the transactions,” he said.

Mr Ogolla said the third transaction for the purchase of a property fell through after he received Sh40 million from Mr Kago and Good Luck Twenty Enterprises, which Mr Kago advised was his company.

“I received a call from Mr Gethi who advised that the property transaction had fallen through and he would advise me where to send the money
“I later received the relevant account details from Mr Kago and duly forwarded the money to accounts at Old Mutual Money Market Fund and Faulu Kenya DTM Limited. The circumstances of handling this money was solely in my capacity as a conveyance advocate,” he said.

The lawyer was, however, asked to explain how he entered into a sale agreement and transfer of a top of the range vehicle that he was to buy from Mr Kago.

The vehicle, registration number KCB 750Z has been impounded by investigating agencies. Documents show that agreement for the sale of the Range Rover was entered into on August 1, 2015.

“I committed to buying the car and at the same time bound him to sell the car to me at the time of completing the payment as agreed within 18 months,” he said.

Mr Ogolla said he was aware of the circumstances under which the transfer forms for the motor vehicle came to be submitted for registration and could only speculate that it was done to pressure him not to back out of the transaction.

Committee said they felt there was serious money laundering in the transactions going on at the time of transfer of the vehicle.

“You received Sh140 million between March 11th, and March 25, 2015 from John Kago. You have said you received about Sh113 million. It will help us if you give us your accounts for the month of March 2015” .