NYS recruits during the pass out ceremony at NYS Gilgil college presided by President Uhuru Kenyatta on November 16, 2018. [Photo: Kennedy Gachuhi, Standard]

A former National Youth Service (NYS) official has been sentenced to four years or alternatively pay a Sh4 million fine after he was found guilty of corruption.

Sellesio Karanja, a former secretary to the tender opening committee, was convicted over the loss of Sh47.6 million through fraudulent procurement in the first NYS scandal.

Mr Karanja, who was charged alongside 23 others, was yesterday convicted by the Nairobi Anti-Corruption Court. He was prosecuted after investigations by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.

Karanja was convicted after the prosecution proved the graft charge against him beyond reasonable doubt.

“I therefore find the case against the suspect has been proved to the required standards in respect to Count 8, I find him guilty as charged and I shall convict him accordingly under the provisions of Section 2015 of the Criminal Procedure Code,” said Anti-Corruption Chief Magistrate Lawrence Mugambi

Bears his signature

Mr Mugambi ruled that: “Taking all this into account and having found that Dama Services Limited was not pre-qualified for this tender, I have come to the conclusion that the accused person, in inserting the name of Dama Services Limited to the tender opening register, was acting fraudulently. His defence that he acted in good faith is not tenable in this circumstances.”

He added that Karanja also confirmed in his defence that the bid for Dana Services bore his signature and another one that was unidentified.

The accused had earlier been charged alongside former Devolution and Planning permanent secretary Peter Mangiti, former NYS deputy director general Adan Harakhe and former Ministerial Tender Committee chairman Hassan Noor, and 20 other people, who were acquitted.

“Karanja betrayed public trust, which he was to safeguard, by engaging in corrupt practices to manipulate procurement of goods in a public entity,” ruled the magistrate.

A witness, Collins Ngesa, said in his testimony that he only saw five bid documents.

The suspect was found guilty of engaging in a fraudulent act, namely inserting the name of Dama Services Limited in the tender opening register, for the procurement of training materials in the automotive engineering faculty, where the services had not been approved for the tender.