New details have surfaced concerning a pilot’s role in the headline-grabbing Ksh39 billion fake arms deal scandal that saw former Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa arrested alongside three other individuals.
The pilot, Mohammed Subow Ali, was arrested on the morning of Saturday, March 14 at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) by detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
Ali was apprehended upon arrival from India and grilled for hours at the DCI’s Kiambu Road headquarters before being released on Saturday night.
A report by Standard on Monday, March 16 has revealed eye-opening information Ali reportedly shared with the detectives concerning his trip to Poland.
Former Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa at the Milimani Law Courts on Monday, February 17, 2020
Daily Nation
He allegedly claimed that he was asked to accompany Echesa to Poland due to his expert knowledge of planes and drones.
Explaining that Echesa was a man known to him, Ali explained that he accompanied Echesa to inspect military equipment from a supplier at a facility in the European nation.
Ali, however, maintained that he was not aware the supposed deal for the Polish firm to supply arms to Kenya was fake.
Ali was reportedly co-operative with the police officers investigating the case. He is expected to be arraigned in court on Monday, March 16 to face various charges.
He told the sleuths that he had been away in India assisting his ailing father. His father was identified as a Kenyan ambassador to a Middle Eastern country.
Echesa was arraigned on February 17 at the Milimani Law Courts alongside three of his co-accused; Daniel Otieno Omondi alias General Juma, Clifford Okoth Onyango alias Paul, and Kennedy Oyoo Mboya.
They faced twelve counts, including making a document without authority, obtaining money by false pretenses, conspiracy to commit a felony and impersonating a public service officer.
He was also reportedly questioned on whether he knew Sergeant Kipyegon Kenei who was attached to Deputy President William Ruto’s office and was found dead at his residence in Imara Daima, Nairobi on Thursday, February 20.
CCTV footage shared by the DCI had revealed that Kenei was on duty on Thursday, February 13 when Echesa arrived at Harambee House Annex with two foreign associated.
DCI chief George Kinoti insisted that Kenei’s death was a cold-blooded murder, explaining that his killers sought to paint it as a suicide.
CCTV footage of Ex-Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa and two foreign nationals at the Harambee Annex on February 13, 2020.
File
