Uasin Gishu Senator Jackson Mandago, along with two of his co-accused, has been granted release on a bond of Ksh.2 million shillings, requiring a surety of the same amount or a cash bail of Ksh.500,000.
Senior Principal Magistrate Alloyce Ndege, presiding over the Nakuru court on Thursday, ruled that the trio must return at a later date for the plea-taking proceedings.
The senator and his associates are accused of swindling poor students out of millions of shillings through the Finland and Canada Overseas Education Programme. His co-accused are Joseph Maritim (1st respondent), Meshack Rono (2nd respondent), and Joshua Lelei (3rd respondent).
Joseph Maritim, who was conspicuously absent from the hearing has an arrest warrant against him. His lawyer has requested that the same bond conditions be extended to his client and that the arrest warrant be revoked.
Yego stated, “My client is not evading authorities; he was neither summoned to provide a statement nor informed about the court appearance today.”
He further argued, “I have elucidated the circumstances under which he is in Canada, and it’s important to note that he left before the investigations commenced. The rationale behind singling him out for an arrest warrant among the four accused individuals escapes me.”
The charges leveled against the suspects revolve around an alleged conspiracy to embezzle Ksh.1.1 billion from a Kenya Commercial Bank account registered under the Uasin Gishu Education Trust Fund in Eldoret. These funds were originally earmarked to cover overseas university fees for scholarship students.
Following his appearance before the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Wednesday, the Senator underwent intense questioning before being transferred to the Central Police Station in Nakuru East later that evening, where he spent the night.
