Former Raila aide victim to EACC impostors

Former Raila aide victim to EACC impostorsBarely a week after the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) released a list of impostors who have been extorting bribes from the public over the ongoing corruption investigations, a one time Chief of Staff in former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s office has fallen victim.

Several impostors claiming to be EACC investigators are reported to have approached Caroli Omondi, whose name was once on the commission’s list of shame over an alleged multi-million land scandal in the city, to seek financial favours for protection.

“They approached Caroli to try and swindle him but he dismissed them on the basis that he was innocent,” said an aide to the former Chief of Staff.

EACC Chief Executive Officer Halakhe Waqo had earlier in the week indicated that the number of fraudsters masquerading as EACC officers was on the rise.

Caroli’s name featured on the list of shame presented to Parliament by President Uhuru Kenyatta in March over an allegation that he had bought from the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) a parcel of land along Loita Street in Nairobi for Sh260 million and was in the process of selling the same to a  businessman for Sh650 million.

But KCB has since written to Caroli’s lawyers Ahmednasir Abdikadir Advocates denying those allegations. “We confirm the property along Loita  street on LR. 209/10343 was previously owned by the bank and was sold through a competitive sale process. We hereby wish  to confirm that the bank has at no time dealt with the said Caroli Omondi regarding this or any other  property.

The bank is  a total stranger to the allegations that the property was sold to Caroli Omondi at any time,” read the KCB letter dated April 22, 2015 and signed by Group Company Secretary Joseph Kania.

When KCB was contacted by EACC in 2011, a representative of the bank had recorded a statement with EACC denying the allegations and advised the commission that they had never dealt with Caroli.

Following the list of shame, Caroli and his lawyers visited EACC and recorded a statement denying the allegations. They also presented the KCB letter.

They advised EACC to independently contact KCB one more time, conduct their own searches at the Lands and Companies Registries to ascertain the previous transactions on, and true ownership of the said parcel of land. Caroli’s team has questioned why EACC has not finalised the matter four years after the allegations were first made.

EACC, Caroli’s team maintains, refused to reveal the identity of their informant and the identity of the businessman the land was to be sold to and never demanded that Caroli record a statement on the allegations. Days after the list of shame was out, EACC warned the public to watch out for extortionists approaching innocent Kenyans with information that EACC will soon be calling them.