Alleged Chickengate mastermind Trevy Oyombra grilled again by EACC

NAIROBI: The alleged mastermind of the Chickengate scandal Trevy Oyombra has been grilled again by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).

Oyombra arrived at EACC offices at Integrity Centre on Monday morning and was questioned for two hours. On arrival, he allegedly used a different name to register himself at the gate.

EACC officials said this was the second time they were grilling Oyombra since the scandal was exposed last year. His grilling now gives detectives a course of action on the issue, officials said.

Former Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Chief Executive Officer James Oswago, who also served at the defunct Interim Independent Electoral Commission, was also expected there Wednesday for grilling, officials said.

EACC officials Wednesday said his statement would enable them to compare notes with those of other IEBC and Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) officials who have been questioned.

The investigators want to know how Oyombra transferred the bribes he received from the British security printing firm Smith and Ouzman from his bank account to State officials. Oyombra was the local agent for Smith and Ouzman.

The commission is seeking to establish whether the election officials had other bank accounts, which have not been disclosed to the investigators or they used other parties to collect the money.

The commission has so far interrogated IEBC Chairman Issack Hassan, former IIEC commissioner and current Energy Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir and former Knec boss Paul Wasanga, who have all denied the allegations.

EACC is investigating the officials over their role in the scandal involving payments of bribes, code-named "chicken" in emails, estimated at Sh50 million between October 1, 2008 and December 31, 2010.

Mr Wasanga, who is the immediate former Knec boss, is being investigated over allegations that he received money to award a tender to Smith and Ouzman for the printing of examination certificates. The detectives obtained proceedings of the case in which on February 12, a UK court jailed two company directors found guilty of corruption.