Update: Months after the EACC raid of Kenya Power bosses' homes in the graft probe, the agency said that it had completed its investigations into the allegations and did not have a case against the six. Following the investigation, the matter was marked as closed by the anti-graft agency.
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The anti-graft agency on Monday raided homes of six top managers of Kenya Power and carted away documents amid an intensified war on corruption at the power utility.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) said that residences belong to John Kibyegon from the Supply Chain and Charles Mwaura (Network Management) and Stephen Kinadira of Finance..
The other homes that were raided include the residence of Engineer Stephen Nguli and Supply Chain Managers Jane Muigai and John Wachira.
The raid comes nearly eight months after the government announced a lifestyle audit in October last year with the first phase focusing on the executives at the power utility.
“EACC accessed and searched residential homes of six KPLC Top Managers under investigation for alleged grand corruption ranging from procurement irregularities, insider trading, unexplained wealth and conflict of interest. Critical evidence was confiscated,” the anti-graft body said last evening.
Mr Mwaura was one of the five executives who were sent on a compulsory 60-day leave to pave way for investigations in November last year as the probe into corrupt dealings at the power utility gathered pace.
The anti-graft agency said the top managers are linked to flawed awarding of tenders that have financially bled the firm and left it with dead stock worth billions of shillings.
A preliminary audit report shows that Kenya Power held about Sh9.8 billion in deadstock — pointing to the electricity supplier’s messy procurement programmes.
The dead stock includes items such as cables, meters, and transformers that have been sitting in the warehouses for more than five years.
The lifestyle audit is part of the recommendations of the task force appointed by President Uhuru Kenyatta to look into the woes of the utility last year amid growing concerns of flawed procurement that has seen the company lose billions of shillings.
Kenya Power has been in the spotlight amid financial haemorrhage largely linked to procurement scandals.
