The Chairman of Kenya’s Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), Philip Kinisu, has admitted to making mistakes in the investigation and subsequent clearing of charges against former Cabinet Secretary (Minister) for Devolution Anne Waiguru over the National Youth Service scam.

Kinisu told the Parliamentary Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs here Wednesday that failure to connect Waiguru with the NYS scam was the result of a communication breakdown between the EACC and some government agencies.

He clarified that investigations leading to Waiguru’s clearance were made along only one track, while the other leading to the 791 million shillings (about 7.8 million US dollars) allegedly involved was along another track and various investigating agencies had failed to share their findings with the EACC leading to mistakes.

He said the Commission had recovered 9.0 billion shillings worth of assets in the last 10 years, including 600 million shillings in cash. The creation of the Asset Recovery Agency was likely to boost recovery of more assets linked to corruption.

Kinisu added that British government had agreed to hive off and return to the Kenyan taxpayers 51 million shillings from the assets of the British firm found guilty of bribing Kenyan officials to win printing contracts from the Kenya National Examinations Council and the Interim Independent Electoral Commission.

The firm, Smith and Ouzman, was found guilty by a British court of having given out 51 million shillings in bribes.

The EACC was updating the National Assembly’s Justice and Legal Affairs Committee on what the commission had done, and its plans and challenges in dealing with corruption cases.

Source: KBC