Ex-Nyandarua governor faces Sh50m fraud case

Former Nyandarua governor Daniel Waithaka will appear in court on Friday over a fraudulent Sh50 million water and sewerage tender.

Mr Waithaka and two former county government officers were set to spend the night at Nyeri Central Police Station waiting to appear before an ant-corruption court to answer charges of economic crimes and abuse of office.

Mr Waithake was arrested alongside Grace Wanjiru Gitonga and Kihiu Gaiko Gichinga.

They presented themselves to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) offices in Nyeri town and were locked up and their fingerprints taken by EACC sleuths.

"It was a cautionary process where they are cautioned that anything they say would be used against them in the court of law, they were finger-printed, identified, filled forms and were later booked in," explained an EACC officer.

On Wednesday night EACC detectives and officers from the Special Crime Prevention Unit raided Mr Waithaka's home in Nyahururu town but did not find him.

According to Nyandarua North OCPD Timon Odingo, the officers spent the better part of Wednesday night around Mr Mwangi’s residence but he did not show up.

“They camped at his home in vain, there were no signs of his presence and all his vehicles were outside the compound,” said the police boss.

“We felt it’s not good to humiliate him in front of the children,” an EACC detective handling the case said.

Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji had ordered Mr Waithaka's arrest.

He arrived at the police station in an old Land Cruiser vehicle alongside Ms Gitonga at exactly at noon. He was dressed in a broken suit and sweater while Ms Gitonga was in orange snickers, black trousers and a yellow jacket.

He was accompanied by his lawyers, wife and other family members. Mr Gichinga, who looked sick, had arrived at around 10.30pm.

EACC is also pursuing two other former county government officers, John Ngigi and Jesee Wachira, in connection with the same case.