No money lost in Eurobond funds transfer – DPP Tobiko

Tobiko said there would be no prosecutions as there was no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of any government official/FILE

NAIROBI, Kenya, May 31 – The Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko on Tuesday agreed with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission’s finding that there is no evidence pointing to the misappropriation of the Sh250 billion raised through the Eurobond.

In a press statement, Tobiko said there would be no prosecutions as there was no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of any government official.

“A joint investigating team comprising of the EACC and DCI officers, investigated the allegations and from the evidence obtained, found that the net amount realised after payment of the syndicated loan was Sh196,916,669,316. This amount was remitted from the offshore accounts held at JP Morgan Chase Bank and Citibank N.A. to the National Exchequer Account at the Central Bank of Kenya,” he stated.

The EACC came to the same conclusion in January but Tobiko directed that further investigations be carried out after he “identified some crucial areas that required clarification and/or additional evidence.”

Also in line with the EACC’s recommendations and after finding that no money was lost in transit, he has now passed the ball to the Office of the Auditor General whose role it is to ensure the prudent utilisation of public funds.

“As regards the utilisation of proceeds of the Eurobond, I concur with the EACC that the Auditor General do carry out special audit on the development projects that were implemented by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to ascertain if the government got value for money.”

The Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) has consistently claimed that not all of the funds raised through the Eurobond made its way into the Exchequer even after the EACC, in January, said it found no evidence backing this claim.

READ: Raila asks EACC to make Eurobond findings public

The national government on the other hand has consistently denied that any money, raised through Kenya’s debut Eurobond in 2014, was lost and said claims to the contrary were simply political manoeuvring.

READ: Ruto takes on Raila over Eurobond

About The Author

OLIVE BURROWS

With a decade of storytelling under her belt, Olive Burrows has been with Capital FM for the last four years and perhaps most notably interviewed US President Barack Obama. Committed to asking the hard questions and telling the story in the most engaging way possible, she has also interviewed Melinda Gates, a UK Minister and severally had the opportunity to sit across from President Uhuru Kenyatta and address the pressing issues of the day. Other notables she has had occasion to seek answers from are UN Secretary General António Guterres and John Kerry in his time as US Secretary of State.

See author's posts