Nzoia Sugar Company boss Godfrey Wanyonyi out on Sh3m bond

Nzoia Sugar Company Managing Director Godfrey Sifuna Wanyonyi in court on January 20, 2017. He was charged alongside six other senior managers with fraud and abuse of office. PHOTO | JARED NYATAYA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • He was further accused of using various vote books to swindle the company of the money.
  • The other six managers were arrested within the company premises.

Nzoia Sugar Company managing director and six other senior managers from the finance department were charged Friday in a Bungoma court over alleged embezzlement of funds.

Godfrey Sifuna Wanyonyi and the other managers appeared before Bungoma Principal Magistrate Steven Mogute over the loss of Sh11.2 million from the milling plant.

They were released on a Sh3 million bond each, with a surety of the same amount or Sh1 million cash bail.

They face 10 counts of economic crime, including abuse of office, fraudulent acquisition of public property, forgery and violation of the Public Finance Law and regulations.

The six senior managers charged alongside Mr Wanyonyi include John Wanyonyi Wekesa (chief cashier), Kenneth Onyango Omwango (cashier), Ben Sitati Wakhungu (supervisor, finance department), Robert Vincent Juma (accountant), Kennedy Wafula Wanjala (superintendent in general administration) and Juliet Nuna Ng’ang’a (clerk).

ALLEGATIONS DENIED

The court heard that the MD, while serving as a finance manager at the company between 2014 and 2015, failed to comply with applicable law on managing public funds, leading to the loss of Sh11,212,711.

He was further accused of using various vote books to swindle the company of the money.

Mr Wanyonyi was arrested in Nairobi on Thursday by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission for interrogation before he was driven to the Bungoma police station.

The other six managers were arrested within the company premises.

The accused, represented by lawyer Amos Makoha, denied the allegations.

The hearing of the suit was set for April 4 and 5.

BLOW TO FARMERS

The arrest of the MD and the six mangers comes when the company has been on a recovery path as it positioned itself as the best compared with neighbouring rival millers - Mumias Sugar Company, West Kenya, Brutal and Kibosh sugar factories.

It will be a great blow, particularly for farmers who have been banking on the factory to improve their financial fortunes, if the senior employees are found to have colluded to misappropriate funds meant to run the company.

Farmers from sugar-belt regions have been complaining of delays and poor payments that do not match their production costs, setbacks that have made many to uproot sugarcane in favour of other crops.

Kenya is a sugar-deficit country that depends on imports to bridge an acute shortage that is now more than 200,000 metric tonnes per year.