The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) has approved fresh charges against Uasin Gishu Senator Jackson Mandago and seven others lowering the amount in the initial charge sheet from Ksh 1.1 billion to Ksh50 million in the Finland education fraud saga.
The ODPP in supporting the new move said that DPP Renson Ingoga asked and failed to get critical evidence from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations in the case for his office to progress with the case.
EACC had been looking into the Sh1.1 billion scholarship program established by the Uasin Gishu County government when Mandago was governor.
Officials said the ODPP discovered a lot of gaps as the case began in a Nakuru court.
The ODPP then instructed the DCI to provide his office with the evidence, which included critical documents, to ensure that the prosecution proceeded smoothly.
In response, the DCI requested that the ODPP withdraw the current case before a Nakuru court involving Mandago and co-accused and replace it with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), which has been investigating and has the required evidence.
The DCI said among others they had not gotten the money trail in the matter, which EACC had established in their probe.
Deputy director of investigations at the DCI Paul Wachira wrote to Ingonga on September 19 indicating their intentions to withdraw the charges against Mandago, Meshack Rono, Joseph Kipkemboi Maritim and Joshua Lelei.
The DCI acknowledged that before the matter was registered in court, they had not covered several key areas.
The DCI argued that EACC had stronger evidence that could lead to the conviction of the suspects and enable them to recover the money.
