Former Busia County director and development head has denied conspiring to defraud the county of Sh8 million by engaging in projects without proper planning and abusing his position.
On Monday, Samuel Oseko testified before Anti-corruption Senior Principal Magistrate Eunice Nyutu that the controller of budget kept all revenue in Busia County and that no money was ever withdrawn from the County government in violation of the law.
Oseko testified in court that all procedures for obtaining funds to make payments were followed.
“It is my testimony that section 109 was followed and nobody has been charged with withdrawing money from the county without authorization. The procedure was well followed,” he told court.
After the court found him, former Busia Governor Sospeter Ojaamong, and his co-accused persons, namely Bernard Aite, Leonard Wanda, Allan Omachari, Edan Odoo, Renish Omullo, Sebasian Hallensben, and Madam R Enterprises, with a case to answer, he was testifying in his defence.
In 2018, they were charged with a conspiracy to commit an economic crime.
He went on to say that the money paid to Madam R Enterprise was public money, and that it was withdrawn from Busia County with the controller of budget’s approval.
According to Oseko, section 109 (2) of the Public Finance Act was never violated because all withdrawals were legal.
“There is no way you could access money from the County without the approval of the controller of budget, your honor this manual was launched and signed by the CS of National Treasury then Henry Rotich,” he said.
“I am an accused and the forms used as evidence in this court would have been gone through for any evidence before being charged but they did not, it is my testimony that the form B that came in relation to the money paid to Madam R enterprises was approved by the controller of budget,” Oseko told court.
He added that he was charged with a charge of conspiracy however, the prosecution did not point him to the crime.
“The witnesses were here and witness number 19 (Abraham) who was the IO in this matter, testified before this court and confirmed that indeed he did not recommend me to be charged. He said that from the investigation he did not get evidence to associate me from any wrong doing. Pw 20 ( Muga Wahome) also confirmed that he too did not recommend me to be charged, he said he was not aware if there was another investigator who did further investigation and recommended my charging,” he said.
The hearing continues on Tuesday.
Last year, the court admitted documentary evidence relied on by one of the defence witnesses who was testifying for Ojamong.
The former governor is separately charged with engaging in a project without prior planning and abuse of office.
Others are accused of wilfully failing to comply with the law relating to the management of funds.
They are accused of knowingly approving payments amounting to Sh8,000,000 to Madam R Enterprises Ltd for a feasibility study on solid waste management, a project for which funding had not been appropriated.
They were placed on their defence after the prosecution called 20 witnesses. Ojamong gave an unsworn statement in June 2021 and defended the Sh8 million spent on the study by Madam R Enterprises, an alleged German company.
