A Nairobi court heard evidence on Tuesday, June 13, 2023, that the Ksh269 million phoney laptop deal involving the office of former Deputy President and current President William Ruto was signed there.
Solomon Muema David, a witness for the prosecution, said that his business, Nduso Investment Limited, and the office of the Deputy President entered into a contract for the delivery of the computers.
Muema informed Milimani Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina that he and Charles Kamolo signed the court-filed document on behalf of Makindu Motors owner Musyoki Nge and Mrs. Muhoro and James William Makokha alias Wanyonyi on behalf of the Deputy President’s office.
After the deal was signed, Muema said the magistrate delivered the full shipment, which included 2,800 computers valued at more than Ksh269 million, to the accused Ruto officials.
During his testimony in the case against Trans Nzoia Senator Allan Kiprotich Chesang and six other defendants, Muema also revealed to Onyina that con artists posing as Ruto’s agents had defrauded them of 2,800 computers.
The witness identified Ms. Muhoro, Wanyonyi, and their point person, Mr. Kiptoo, as the individuals who pretended to be representatives of the Office of the Deputy President during the whole transaction.
Wanyonyi is charged with a plot aimed at deceiving Makindu Motors about the multi-million-dollar laptop deal.
The 2,800 computers that the agents of then-Deputy President Ruto obtained were purportedly intended for distribution to schools.
At the time, the Jubilee administration—of which Ruto was the Deputy President—promised to provide laptops for all Kenyan elementary schools, but this promise has remained a pipe dream ever since.
According to Muema, uniformed police officers were present during each of the 2,800 HP laptop deliveries, which took place inside the Treasury Building. Muhoro, who identified herself as the official in charge of procurement at the office of the Deputy President, made the announcement.
The witnesses said that Muhoro added a government stamp on the delivery notes in order to collect the first two deliveries at her third-floor office at the DP.
The owner of Makindu Motors, a business that distributes motorcycles across the nation, procured and paid for the computers, which were delivered in three installments.
When they won the government procurement, Muema informed the magistrate that they hired T. Ngei to fund it since he had the financial wherewithal.
Onyina overheard Ngei paying Ksh269,360,000 for 2,800 computers all at once.
Muhoro requested a bribe of Ksh500,000, which Muema and Kamolo paid in cash, to be eligible for the contract.
Muema said in court, “We visited Muhoro at the Karen Hotel, where she asked for Ksh500,000 as money for the office of the Deputy President clerks, who were to prepare the tender paperwork.
Muema informed the magistrate that he packed all the computers from godowns in Eastleigh at Eye Link and subsequently took them to Muhoro, on the direction of state prosecutor Anderson Gikunda.
According to testimony given in court, Muhoro received the delivery notes for the most recent shipment at a gas station close to Ruto’s office in Karen.
Muhoro ordered him to convey the delivery notes to her at Shell Petrol Station in Karen because she had been given certain chores at the Deputy President’s office after putting 699 computers onto a truck’, Muema added.
In the gas station, according to Muema, he gave the delivery notes to Muhoro, who did not stamp a receipt on his copy, claiming to have left her stamp in the DP’s office.
Muema said in testimony that Ruto’s agents treated them to a party at the Ole Sereni Hotel on Mombasa Road to celebrate a job well done.
“The agents called me and Charles Kamolo at the Ole Sereni Hotel to thank us for supplying the 2,800 laptops to them,” Muema said to Onyina.
When the topic of paying for the computers came up during the party, Ruto’s representative claimed they would move quickly to make sure clients were paid the whole amount appropriately.
The three supposed Ruto agents turned off their mobile devices and disappeared, to their complete astonishment.
When the payment of Ksh180 million was delayed by a week, the owner of Makindu Motors, Ngei, phoned Muema and expressed concern that they had been duped.
Ngei, according to Muema, gave them instructions to report the incident to the Athi River Police Station with Kamolo.
When Muema and Onyina cited the Office of the Deputy President, the police held them in cells and informed them they were among the primary suspects in the laptop fraud.
The star witnesses told the court that they were held for seven days, during which time they provided information to the police about the location of the contract’s signing at the president’s office.
The Muhoro and Kiptoo homes in Athi River were also where the police found several of the computers.
Gikunda questioned the witnesses about whether they had ever received the Ksh180 million, and they responded negatively.
So, according to Gikunda, you were duped?
We were deceived, yes. Since July 2018, we have yet to hear from Ruto’s representatives about the payment, according to Muema.
At that point, Gikunda requested that the witness be excused from testifying since the testimony would have impacted Johan Ochieng Osore, one of the defendants, who was not there.
The case was postponed to September 18, 19, 20, and 21 by the court.
Along with Teddy Awiti, Kevin Matundura Nyongesa, Augustine Wambua Matata, Joy Wangari Kamau, James William Makokha alias Wanyonyi, and Johan Ochieng Osore, Wanyonyi is accused in the case of Chesang.
The seven defendants are accused of conspiring to commit fraud, creating a document without authorization, getting items via deception, handling stolen property, and abusing the system.
The prosecution claims that on August 12, 2018, in the office of the then-Deputy President William Ruto, Chesang and his co-defendants planned to defraud Makindu Motors of 2,800 computers valued at Ksh180 million.
