NAIROBI, September 29 – Former Central Bank Deputy Governor Jacinta Mwatela says she has not received any summons from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in an ongoing probe over the leakage of confidential bank documents.
Sources at the CID told Capital News that they dispatched the letter on September 18, directing the Former deputy governor to appear for questioning, but
Mrs Mwatela on Monday said she has not received the summons.
“I have not received any letter unless it was posted in the press. But you people who read the newspapers, maybe saw it and nobody alerted me about it. If the police claim they sent me a letter and I did not get it, I take that to be an attempt to intimidate me,” she said.
Police sources said she risked arrest if she failed to honour the summons. She had been required to report to the CID at a date convenient to her.
Mrs Mwatela clarified that she was only aware of a request by the Parliamentary Committee on Finance which wanted to question her over the controversial De La Rue currency printing contract.
“I have a letter that tells me to appear before Parliament and I’m still waiting to get further instructions if any. The letter asked me to appear tomorrow (Tuesday) at 2.30pm,” she said in a telephone interview.
The House Committee also intends to question the bank’s former Governor Andrew Mulei and Finance Permanent Secretary Joseph Kinyua. Others are officials of the currency printing firm.
Mrs Mwatela was dragged into controversy when she blew the whistle on the Goldenberg case in the nineties and more recently, when she raised questions about Kenya’s currency printing contracts.
She was removed from the Central Bank early this month by the President after 31 years of service and was instead appointed a Permanent Secretary, but she declined the posting and opted to leave the public service.
Mrs Mwatela says she is paying the price for her zero-tolerance stand on graft.
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