Business in Education Ministry Cash Fraud Freed

Nairobi Star (Nairobi)

28 June 2011

A court has terminated fraud charges against a businessman who had been charged with fraudulently obtaining Sh75 million from the Ministry of Education. High Court Judge Fred Ochieng quashed the criminal charges against Suresh Kanotra because he had ceased being the director of a company when the alleged offences took place.

He further order the registrar of companies to pay Kanotra Sh50,000 as damages because he had been charged due to the wrong information given to the investigators by the registrar.

The registrar and the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission (KACC) were also ordered to pay the costs of the litigation to Kanotra. Justice Ochieng said Kanotra who had been accused of obtaining the money as a director of Vulcan Lab Equipment was charged in court because of the wrong information given by the registrar of companies to investigators.

The businessman had been accused of fraudulently obtaining the money from the School Education Production Unit (SEPU), a state corporation under the Ministry of Education when he was a director of Vulcan Lab Equipment Ltd.

The court was told that the businessman was charged after the registrar of companies confirmed that Kanotra was still a director of Vulcan in July 2009 when the alleged offence was committed.

But the registrar later filed an affidavit in court stating that Kanotra was not a director of Vulcan when the allegations happened. The affidavit was sworn by a senior assistant registrar of companies, Johnson Otieno Adera who said that the letter which was written to KACC by a state counsel, Colleta Maweu saying that Kanotra was a director was incorrect. Kanotra was charged alongside five other suspects before the anti corruption court. He subsequently moved to the High Court to challenge the charges.

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