Court sets free MP Richard Onyonka

Kitutu Chache South MP Richard Onyonka with his lawyer Steve Orina in a Kisumu court on December 22, 2016. The MP has been acquitted of charges of misappropriating CDF money and tax evasion. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

Kitutu Chache South MP Richard Onyonka has been acquitted by a Kisumu court of charges of misusing money from the Constituency Development Fund and tax evasion.                       

The legislator had been accused of using Sh137 million from the CDF kitty to purchase sugar from Chemelil Sugar Company, in a case that has dragged on for more than eight years.      

In his ruling, Senior Principal Magistrate Thomas Obutu said neither the MP nor the region’s CDF office purchased sugar from the miller.                         

Mr Obutu said the case of tax evasion cannot stand because the accused never purchased any sugar in the first place.

It is alleged that the sugar was to be distributed to IDPs in his constituency in 2009.

FALSE ALLEGATIONS

Through the purchase, Mr Onyonka is also said to have withheld Sh18 million in Value Added Tax.

But the MP denied the accusations, saying he never bought sugar for his constituents.

“The allegations are false as there is no way I could have used the money to buy sugar. The CDF kitty is purely for development and not business,” he said.

Instead, he accused unscrupulous businessmen of using a letter he wrote to Chemelil Sugar Company requesting to buy the commodity for his constituents who were displaced by the clashes of 2007/2008.

He acknowledged that he wrote the letter but denied buying the sugar, saying the company refused and requested that he get a letter from the Office of the President.

PURE POLITICS

“The whole thing ended at that. I never bought the said sugar but it seems some people used the same letter to do their own business,” he claimed.

Speaking after the ruling was made Friday, a delighted Mr Onyonka said: “It has been a whole eight years of stress and frequent court [appearances] but now it is clear that I was innocent.”                       

“Just like I said years ago, this was pure politics. The truth has now come out and at a very good time - to clear my name that I was never involved in such dealings.”

He went on: “I’d like to thank the people of Kitutu Chache South for standing by me all these years and having confidence in me during these trying moments.”