EACC to distribute 34,000 pages of evidence in Sh1.57 billion Treasury graft case

Some of the accused persons before Milimani Law Court. (Handout)

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) will require all 34 accused persons in the Sh1.57 billion National Treasury corruption case to collect thousands of pages of evidence individually from its headquarters before the trial proceeds.

The prosecution told the Milimani Law Courts that it had prepared more than 34,000 pages of documentary evidence, with each accused person expected to receive approximately 400 pages of trial documents.

State Counsel Susan Kelly informed Magistrate Rose Ndobi that the volume of documents made it difficult for the prosecution to serve all the accused persons electronically or distribute the material physically in court.

Kelly proposed that each of the 34 accused persons personally collect their respective copies from the EACC headquarters at Integrity Centre during the week.

She said individual collection would ensure that every accused person received and retained a complete set of the documents required for the trial.

The prosecution further explained that providing each accused person with a separate set would help avoid complications should any of them change lawyers during the proceedings.

However, the proposal sparked an alternative suggestion from lawyer Edward Oonge, who urged the anti-graft agency to transport the bulky documents to Milimani Law Courts using a truck for distribution to the accused persons.

Despite the suggestion, the court directed the accused persons to collect their respective documents individually from the EACC offices.

The matter will return to court on November 10, 2026, for a mention to confirm whether the prosecution has complied with the directions on service of the evidence.

The case involves Treasury official Billy Obango and 33 other accused persons facing charges linked to alleged corruption involving Sh1.57 billion.

EACC investigations established that Sh1,569,582,338.20 was fraudulently disbursed from the National Treasury Development Account to the PROFIT Programme and subsequently channelled to 23 private entities, comprising 15 business names and eight companies, for goods and services that were never supplied or rendered.

The programme, implemented by the National Treasury with funding from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), was intended to facilitate small-scale farmers’ access to affordable financing and operated between the 2013/2014 and 2023/2024 financial years.

Investigators further established that programme officials used false and forged documents to account for the funds and irregularly opened a Kenya Commercial Bank account in the name of the PROFIT Programme.

Sh175.3 million was received through the unauthorised account, which was subsequently used to launder and embezzle the funds, with a substantial portion withdrawn in cash.

In a separate development, two other suspects were also charged before the same court.