Thirty five people among them Bobasi MP Innocent Obiri and Kisumu County Speaker Onyango Oloo Monday denied fraud charges over the construction of multi-million Lake Basin Development Authority (LBDA) Mall in the lakeside city.
Others who were charged before anti-corruption court chief magistrate Douglas Ogoti were former LBDA managing director Peter Aguko Abok, members of the tender committee, evaluation committee members, contractors and consultants. The court ordered Mr Oloo, Mr Obiri and Mr Abok to deposit Sh10 million each to secure their release.
The managing director of Erdermann Property Ltd, the contractor John Zeyun Yang also denied the charges but his wife, Zhang Jing, was reportedly out of the country and would be back on October 5.
He was also directed to deposit cash bail of Sh10 million to get his freedom back.
The charges against the accused persons included failure to comply with procurement laws, engaging in a project without prior planning, abuse of office and corruptly receiving a benefit.
Mr Oloo, who was then the LBDA board chairman allegedly received a total of Sh15 million, from Erdermann Property as an inducement to facilitate the allocation of funds to LBDA, for the construction of phase 1 of the project.
He was also accused of failing to disclose a private interest. The court heard that while knowing that he was a legal consultant for Erdermann, he failed to disclose the information to the board.
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