America focus on Ruto over sh40b gun probe

The American government has joined investigations of a deal that saw former Sports cabinet secretary Rashid Echesa arrested in connection with the supply of Sh39 billion military ware that still remains a mystery.

The American interest is the investigations is pegged on the fact that one of those involved in the bizarre high level gun running is an American citizen based in Poland. His firm goes by the name Eco Advanced Technologies LLC It must be noted that anything involving American citizens is taken seriously because of the country’s global influence in international politics and economy

Sources privy to the deal further reveal that deputy president William Ruto is on the America and local sleuths’ radar after it emerged that his security team drove inside Jomo Kenyatta International Airport runway, parked their cars and picked the American. Questions are being asked as to why the DP’s security detail was involved in the affair.

The timing of the arrival, which was Febuary 11 as Kenyans were engaged in the mourning of the late retired president Daniel arap Moi has left tongues wagging. It is suspected that those involved wanted to strike as Kenyans top brass were deeply engrossed in the preparations to send off the late Moi, and dupe the investors as the reason why the cabinet secretary and top military officials were fully engaged in burial programme.

Moi having served for 24 years as Commander-in- Chief of the Armed Forces, his burial was in the hands of the military. The cabinet led by Defence CS Rachael Omamo and her Internal Security counterpart Fred Matiang’i were fully held up.

To add on, the late Moi being president Uhuru Kenyatta’s political godfather and a man Uhuru claimed was instrumental in raising the family after the demise of the founding father of the nation late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, Uhuru was to play a major role in the sendoff.

Weekly Citizen has further information that the Directorate of Criminal Investigations headed by George Kinoti in collaboration with American CIA and FBI had been following the fraud since last year and were just waiting for the opportune time to strike to avoid being accused of playing politics by a section in the ruling Jubilee government. Briefs we are having are that immediately communication between Echesa team, the American and his Egyptian business associate started in the military tender deal, it was all systems go at DCI headquarters. The idea was to arrest them at DP’s office to lay the case bare as it involved arms supply.

Echesa is said to have written an e-mail to the Poland-based firm with a proposal of helping them land the lucrative military tender.

In the deal was to have Pizzle Consultancy, a Kenyan firm paid Sh11.5miilion as facilitation and consultancy fee.

The arms dealers firm’s directors were later asked to visit Kenya and booked at Hemmingways Hotel in Karen. Echesa resides in Karen and is a neighbour of Ruto confidant Farouk Kibet. At the hotel, people dressed in military attire in the name of generals were present.

The presence of the said military generals has seen the Kenya military intelligence and military police join in the investigations to establish if they were fake soldiers or genuine ones. If fake, military wants to establish the source of the uniform they wore a move that is likely to complicate and add another dimension in the case if the uniforms are found.

Those privy to the investigations say that Echesa asked them to facilitate his visit to Poland to inspect the drones and other military equipment. In the Poland tour was Rashid accompanied by a General Mohammed and another pilot who said he was based in Somalia, Amisom operations. The pilot could easily manage the drones and the investors were convinced he was a genuine pilot with KDF.

The foreigners had received an e-mail from Echesa in October 2019 claiming he and his team were government officials, requesting them to tender for military drones. The meetings at Hemmingways lasted for a week.

According to the investors, Echesa said for the tender to go through, they needed military and political connections to lobby. At one time, it emerged that DP Ruto had agreed to push for the tender assisted by General Mohammed. They were then told to pay USD115, 000 in advance. They were later taken to KICC to attend a meeting.

They were taken to the DP’s Harambee House Annex office where Echesa was ushered in by the security personnel at DP’s office where they signed three sets of tender documents. Rashid then left claiming he was going to Treasury and DoD headquarters for the stamps. That was when he was arrested. At Ruto’s official Harambee Annex office they used the lift Ruto uses something investigators are trying to add up.

Four suspects were arrested, Echesa of ID number 22736471, Daniel Otieno Omondi of ID 23529245, Kennedy Oyoo Mboya of ID number 25756450 and Clifford Okoth of ID number 23379137

A week before the arrest, the firm’s directors had been invited to Kenya. They came and on Tuesday and met Rashid at a certain hotel. They later met the army general who was in full military attire and a KDF car and an escort vehicle in Lavington. At the meeting, their phones were confiscated. They then agreed that Echesa was to pick and then take them to DP’s office to sign the final tender document.

Echesa when he visited Poland was booked at the exclusive Raffles Europejski Hotel in the heart of Warsaw, and held talks with directors from Eco Advanced Technologies LLC. After establishing contact, Echesa returned to Kenya supposedly to facilitate the tendering process and preparation of the contract documents.

Weekly Citizen has information, investigators are out to establish if it is true during Eco Advanced Technologies LLC invited Echesa to Poland for a second talks, he was with Nick Ruto, Ruto’s son a lawyer by profession.

Together with a senior staff at Harambee Annex, they were booked at at Sofitel Warsaw Victoria Hotel in Warsaw for five days.

Also being investigated is if Nick traveled to Poland as a government official under the invitation of his sisterJune Ruto who is Kenya’s chargee d’affaires – a charge d’affaires is an envoy who heads an embassy in the absence of the ambassador. She is based in Italy and her name featured in the dam scandals. CDA is position created when two countries have no fully recognised diplomatic relations.

At the DP’s office, the foreigners signed the tender documents with a ministry of Defence fake officers. When picked for questioning on the way to DCI head office on Kiambu road, the foreigners were instructed by their Kenyan contacts not to speak as they had been abducted by terrorists.

Once at DCI, they discovered they were in the hands of detectives.

One of them is said to have fainted upon discovery they were dealing with crooks in the military tender and it was a fraud in the making. They had been driven around during a deal with escorts and top-of-the-range vehicles.

They accessed Ruto’s office, enjoyed a cup of tea and were well received by staff. The firm, according to information, has offices in America and Poland. The core business being guns supply, installation and commissioning and maintaining an integrated communication and security surveillance system across the world.

Sources say that an Egyptian company representative, tasked with establishing links in Africa has been cooperative as he was a key player.

Investigators want to establish if it is true that the investors had been to ministry of Defence offices three times and were given receipts from the offices they visited. The receipts they claim in statements bear KDF stamps and are also signed.

The tender documents were found in Echesa’s car according to police. The Egyptian further revealed that plans to meet Ruto failed after Echesa received a call that claimed the DP was in a meeting.

Echesa has claimed the arrest is political and is meant to fix him to taint Ruto’s 2022 bid for the presidency internationally especially among Western capitals as the investors belong to European Union.

Sources say that if CIA and FBI find Ruto hand in the saga, they will issue travel bans against him and his family in Western countries. If it happens, how Kenyans will elect a president who cannot engage world leaders for bilateral talks wooing investments is a puzzle.

Others say that Ruto already has travel bans in a number of countries on graft related grounds and that is why Uhuru has decided to divorce him in the 2022 succession race. Uhuru supposed concern is how Ruto will rule without international world support in development matters.