Court finds ex-youth fund boss guilty of abuse of office
Former Youth Enterprise Development Fund CEO Juma Mwatata Mwangala who has been ordered to pay a fine of Sh1 million or spend six months in jail for abuse of office. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Anti-Corruption Court Magistrate Felix Kombo ruled that Mr Mwangala failed to comply with procurement regulations.
- He is said to have irregularly awarded a tender to supply youths across the country with automated hatcheries.
- Investigations into his case were conducted by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.
A court has ordered former Youth Enterprise Development Fund Chief Executive Officer Juma Mwatata Mwangala to pay a fine of Sh1 million or spend six months in jail after finding him guilty of abusing his office.
Anti-Corruption Court Magistrate Felix Kombo ruled that Mr Mwangala failed to comply with procurement regulations in the awarding of a tender to supply youths across the country with automated hatcheries.
However, the magistrate acquitted Mr Mwangala of two other counts of engaging in a project without prior planning and failure to comply with the laws relating to management of public funds for lack of sufficient evidence.
“Prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt that he failed to comply with procurement regulation,” the Magistrate said.
IRREGULAR CONTRACT
He had been accused of using his post as the accounting officer of the Youth Enterprise Fund to improperly award a Sh208,530,000 contract to Comnete Technologies Ltd for the supply, delivery and installation of 1,050 hatching machines without the requisite approval of the corporation’s board.
He is said to have committed the offence on August 16, 2012 and influenced the supplier before advance payment bond was made to the Youth Fund.
Payments were allegedly processed to Comnete Technologies the same day and paid before the supplier provided the advance payment bond of 30 percent as required in the contract.
Investigations had revealed that the supplier banked Sh62.5 million on the same day the contract was signed while the supplier provided the bond four days later.
Investigations into his case were conducted by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.
The court had also been told that a feasibility study was not conducted before the purchases were made.
Mr Mwangala allegedly bought the 1,050 egg incubators at a cost of Sh208 million.
The incubators were meant for onward lending to youth in agri-businesses.
Mr Mwangala was suspended from his post following allegations of overstepping his mandate as well as procurement irregularities.
