Former Sports Cabinet Secretary Hassan Wario and former National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) Stephen Soi are guilty of corruption over the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
This follows a Wednesday verdict issued by a Kenyan anti-corruption court where the two were convicted over financial impropriety and abuse of office.
The court in the ruling cited that Wario abetted corruption using his office by allowing three people to travel to Rio and earn allowances.
Hassan Wario. [Photo: Standard]
This was despite the fact that they were not supposed to have their expenses and allowances catered for by the Kenyan government.
The court stated that Wario’s actions led to the loss of public funds to a tune of Ksh88.6 million going by a prove report by the Sports ministry.
“The additional names were included after they closed the accreditation… Clearly this was an indicator that the three were not part of the team Kenya,” Magistrate Elizabeth stated.
Further, the court ruled that Wario lacked constitutional power to allow the three people to travel to Rio.
Due to his actions, there were resources that were wasted as the money budgeted to buy air tickets for team Kenya ended up in the pockets of some unidentified officials.
Of the Ksh88.6 million, the ministry failed to account for Ksh54 million.
As a result, the court directed that the Sporting budget by the ministry be tailored to address travel capping. She said not everyone who is at the planning stage is supposed to travel.
Soi who was also on the radar was found guilty of five counts of corruption.
According to the investigation report by Paul Ochieng, Students Dean at Strathmore University, Soi alongside other ministry officials misappropriated funds from a Nike contract.
Former NOCK Chair Stephen Soi. [Standard]
“Some (sports) ministry officials misappropriated Sh88,611,480 meant for air tickets. NOCK has been misappropriating Nike contract funds and kit amounting to Sh126 million per year meant for athletes since 2013,” the report read.
Wario was remanded at the Gigiri Police cells awaiting sentencing on Thursday.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login