Former KPA MD Manduku pleads not guilty in Sh244.8mn tender fraud case » Capital News

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 28 – Former Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) Managing Director Daniel Manduku on Friday denied conspiracy to defraud the State entity after approving an irregular tender award that cost the taxpayer Sh244,837,908.

Manduku who appeared before Nairobi Anti-Curruption Magistrate Lawrence Mugambi, alongside co-accused Juma Fadhili denied violating procurement procedures.

The prosecution also told the court the Sh244.8 million sum was paid despite the fact that work was never completed.

The offenses are said to have been committed in 2018 and 2019 at the KPA headquarters in Mombasa.

Lawyers Nelson Havi, Julie Soweto and Eric Theuri sought lenient bail terms arguing Manduku could only afford an amount not exceeding Sh500,000.

The court was set to reconvene at 2.30pm to issue a ruling on bail applications by the two co-accused persons.

Manduku was first arrested in March by detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) who arraigned him in court where he was freed after the prosecution opposed charges he was about to face.

The state through the Directorate of Public Prosecutions said it was not aware of the charges at the time because the DCI had not submitted the file for perusal and approval.

DPP insisted that his office is charged with the responsibilty of approving all criminal charges, in what threatened to stall Manduku’s case and several others whose files had not been submitted to the DPP.