Former Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa was in fresh trouble yesterday after police raided his Karen home in Nairobi and picked him up for questioning over claims he had defrauded a widow of her spouse’s vehicle.
Officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), who were armed with a search warrant, also impounded five cars from Echesa’s compound on claims they needed to establish their ownership status.
The vehicles included a Range Rover, VW Passat, Toyota Land Cruiser and a Toyota saloon.
DCI Director George Kinoti said the former CS was being questioned “before they know the way forward”.
Echesa’s lawyer Brian Khaemba said his client was taken to DCI headquarters following a complaint filed by a woman after the death of her husband, who was said to be Echesa’s friend.
According to a police affidavit, the complainant, Esther Kabura, said her husband Patrick Akifuma died on March 14, 2016 and left his car with Echesa.
“That before his demise, the deceased had the following motor vehicles – Toyota V8, Toyota Mark X and Passat,” read part of the affidavit.
It added that Akifuma was with Echesa before he died and after the burial, Kabura tried in vain to reclaim the Land Cruiser that her husband had hired out to the former CS.
“Later on, the complainant found out that the respondent had fraudulently transferred the ownership of the said motor vehicle to his name,” the affidavit further read.
Earlier, there was drama at Echesa’s home when he denied detectives from the Economic Crimes Unit entry, saying he was waiting for his lawyer to arrive.
The officers later accessed the compound after climbing over the gate. He was released late yesterday as detectives investigate the matter.
Echesa alongside Daniel Otieno, Clifford Okoth and Kennedy Oyoo are separately accused of defrauding international investors through a fake military equipment deal worth Sh39.5 billion.
They were arraigned on February 17 and charged with conspiring to commit a felony, making a document without authority, obtaining money by false pretence, attempting to commit a felony and uttering a false document.
They denied all the charges and are out on a Sh1 million cash bail each.
The complainants told police Echesa approached them through mail in October 2019 introducing himself as a Kenyan politician who would hook them up with a lucrative Sh39.5 billion tender.
To show commitment he is reported to have asked them to pay a firm known as Pizzle Consultancy $115,000 (Sh11.5 million) as consultancy fee.
They said Echesa summoned the directors of the company into the country and had a meeting at a Nairobi hotel in the presence of people dressed in military uniforms.
The directors then arranged a trip for Echesa and three others to Poland, the headquarters of the company to inspect the surveillance equipment.
SOURCE: standardmedia.co.ke
