Two former senior county officials and a sitting Member of the County Assembly of Garissa County were yesterday arraigned over the alleged fraudulent loss of Sh51,495,253 from the Garissa County Government.
Bambala MCA Abdi Ibrahim Daar, former Director of Accounting Services Mohamud Dubow Korane, and former Senior Principal Economist Yussuf Bethe Ali were charged alongside Qorjarey Enterprise and General Supplies Limited before Principal Magistrate Hon. Jackson Omwange.
The four accused face 27 counts, including conspiracy to commit an economic crime, fraudulent acquisition of public property, abuse of office and forgery. All pleaded not guilty.
The court heard that the offences were allegedly committed between September 14, 2021, and July 1, 2022. Prosecutors claim the accused orchestrated irregular payments for emergency food supplies, water trucking services and office furniture purportedly supplied to the county government but never delivered.
According to the prosecution, between April 5 and June 30, 2022, the accused conspired to facilitate the transfer of Sh51,495,253 to the company. The fraudulent acquisition charges relate specifically to payments processed between April 7 and June 30, 2022.
Korane, who served as Director of Accounting Services at the time, faces five counts of abuse of office for allegedly approving payments on various dates in April, May and June 2022. He is also charged with forging payment vouchers dated March 29, April 5, April 29, May 24 and June 15, 2022.
Ali is accused of abusing his office by raising invoices in the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) on April 6, April 14, May 4 and June 28–29, 2022, allegedly facilitating the disputed payments.
Daar faces charges of conspiracy, fraudulent acquisition of public property, forgery and uttering false documents. The court heard that he allegedly presented forged payment documents to commercial banks between April and July 2022 in support of the impugned transactions.
Prosecution Counsel Evans Kazungu urged the court to impose strict bond terms, citing the seriousness of the charges.
“The gravity of the offences and the substantial amount of public funds involved warrant stringent bond conditions,” Kazungu told the court.
The defence, however, argued that the proposed bond terms were excessive and asked the court to review them.
In his ruling, Principal Magistrate Omwange revised the earlier bond terms of Sh10 million bond or Sh5 million cash bail. Each accused was granted a bond of Sh5 million with one surety or an alternative cash bail of Sh2 million.
The case will be mentioned on March 24, 2026, for pre-trial directions. Hearing has been scheduled on a priority basis from May 4 to 7, 2026.
