Taita Taveta Deputy Speaker Anselm Mwadime Chao was on Monday charged with seven counts relating to the embezzlement of sh17 million in a fraudulent trip to Zanzibar for bonding by MCAs and other officials.
Mwadime appeared before Mombasa Chief Magistrate Alex Ithuku and denied the charges.
He was released on a bond of sh 1 million with surety of a similar amount or cash bail of sh 500,000.
The matter has been set down for a pre-trial hearing and directions on 11th March 2024.
According to the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission, investigations established that a total of sh 17 million was spent on the trip out of which sh 9 million was directly paid to the organizers for logistics while sh 8 million was paid as imprest to 30 officials
EACC claims the county Assembly used forged documents to account for the fraudulent expenditure with officials being overpaid while some of those who received allowances did not travel.
“One of the suspects in the case, the County Assembly Clerk Gadiel Maganga who is yet to be arrested is directed to forthwith present himself at the EACC Mombasa Regional Office for processing,” stated EACC in it’s official X(formerly Twitter) handle.