Kenya police summon finance minister over dams scandal

Kenyan police have summoned Finance Minister Henry Rotich for questioning for a second time over a multi-million dollar scandal involving advance payments for two dam projects, the head of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said.

The DCI said last week it was investigating what it described as fraudulent construction of the two dams valued at 63 billion shillings. Some payments had already been made despite the dams not being built, it said.

Rotich was not immediately available for comment, but in a statement published by local media on Sunday, he said that up to19.8 billion shillings ($198 million) had been paid in advance to various firms for the Arror and Kimwarer dams.

He said the payments had been made in accordance with the law. “He must answer several questions,” George Kinoti, the head of the DCI, told Reuters in a text message late on Monday.

Rotich arrived at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations headquarters in Nairobi at around 6 am on Tuesday, a police officer posted outside told Reuters.

Our attention at @KeTreasury has been drawn to recent media coverage on Arror and Kimwarer Multipurpose dams. We are concerned that the ongoing reporting is devoid of facts and correct information. As custodian of public finances, we wish to set the record straight as follows: pic.twitter.com/vYriUfDDdi

— CS Henry K. Rotich (@HKRotich) February 28, 2019

We would like to stress that all projects, whether domestic or externally funded, are implemented in strict adherence to the law and in accordance with the commercial and financing agreements. pic.twitter.com/apaQPoBqtY

— CS Henry K. Rotich (@HKRotich) February 28, 2019