Mombasa inspector grilled over Sh50 million empire

MOMBASA: A senior traffic policeman was yesterday at pains to explain the source of his Sh50 million empire as vetting kicked off in the Coast region.

Bamburi Police Station Base Commander Chief Inspector Abubakar Bakari, who was appearing before the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) led by Johnston Kavuludi, could not account for M-Pesa transactions amounting to millions of shillings.

Commissioner Mary Owuor accused Chief Inspector Bakari of being rude after he told commissioner Cynthia Onyango to calculate the M-Pesa transactions, allegedly from a merry-go-round, amounting to more than Sh1.8 million. Asked by the NPSC chairman to state his "conservative" worth in assets and liabilities, Bakari who has been in the police force for the nine years, said he is worth Sh50 million. The officer operates at least four bank accounts.

Ms Owuor took Bakari to task on whether a cell phone number he had used for the transactions, but which he did not submit as one of his lines to the commission, belonged to him.

Bakari denied he was the owner of the number, which had allegedly been used in money transactions involving senior and junior officers and people he said he could not remember.

According to Mr Kavuludi, records from Safaricom showed that the number was in use as late as December 31, 2013 where it was involved in a transaction of Sh36,000.

"That number is not mine...I have been using many numbers which I cannot remember," said Bakari.

On further prodding by the commissioner, Bakari responded: "I can't say it is mine".

According to the commission, the line was involved in hundreds of transactions. Bakari was at pains to explain 43 transactions where Sh743,450 was transferred to one Evans Getembe.

In his defence, Bakari said the huge M-Pesa transactions were occasioned by the fact he was in a merry-go-round where he was in charge of collecting money from 13 base commanders in Nairobi, Mombasa, Busia, Kabras and Bungoma. They contribute Sh3,000 per week.

Kavuludi described Mr Getembe as the "most prolific recipient of the merry-go-round funds".

The line was also used in transferring Sh1,095,150 to Godfrey Njekia.

"If you look at the records, the transactions happened over a period stretching for months," said Bakari.

When asked by Ms Onyango the names of the 13 base commanders who formed the merry-go-round, Bakari only managed to mention three.

Bank deposit

He declined to calculate the amount the merry-go-round collected in a year and asked Onyango to do the calculations herself given that she had a pen. The remark prompted the intervention of Ms Owuor who reprimanded the officer for being rude.

Quizzed by Kavuludi to explain a bank deposit of Sh5,546,000 on March 2012, Bakari said the money was part of the Sh11 million he made after his two premises in Mtwapa, Kilifi County, were acquired by two local banks. He also received a deposit of Sh435,000 on March 2, 2012.

He explained that he was involved in large-scale poultry business and he supplied chicken to various high-end hotels in Mombasa, South Coast and North Coast. He also said that he receives Sh2.1 million monthly from his rental houses.

"My wife runs a big big business and I cannot do without an M-Pesa account," said Bakari.

At the same time, Nyali Police Office Station Base Commander Solomon Njuguna Watuti was asked to explain his role in the disappearance of suspected terrorists from Morocco while he was based in Garissa in 2008.

Mr Watuti said that he was cleared of blame after he explained that he was away from his workstation when the incident happened.

He denied a complaint forwarded to the commission by a member of the public that he was working with traffic police officers to solicit for bribes from matatus.