Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua granted Sh12 million cash bail

Mathira Member of Parliament Rigathi Gachagua was on Monday arraigned in court following his arrest on Friday last week.

Gachagua was presented at the Milimani Law Courts, Anti-Corruption Court before Chief Magistrate Lawrence Mugambi.

The legislator was charged on counts of conspiracy to commit an offence of corruption, fraudulent acquisition of property and money laundering.

Other charges are acquisition of proceeds of crime and conflict of interest.

"Between October 2018 and January 2019, in Nyeri County, being a public officer to wit MP for Mathira, you acquired indirect private interest in a contract connected with a public body, to wit Construction of Njathaini Primary School funded by Mathira CDF in the contract awarded to Skytop agencies, a company owned by Jullianne Jahenda Makaa who is your close associate," the charge on conflict of interest read.

An aggregate of the charges stated before the court stood at Sh7.4 billion, contrary to the earlier charges that had amounted to Sh12 billion.

Chief Magistrate Mugambi granted a Sh12 million cash bail as one of the conditions for his release.

The MP was still awaiting settlement of the Sh12 million bail at the time of publication, pending his release.

Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua arrested Pulse Live Kenya

Gachagua Arrest

MP Gachagua was arrested on Friday morning by Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers while at his Nyeri home.

Reports indicate that the officers picked the legislator at dawn and he was driven to the DCI headquarters in Nairobi, along Kiambu Road.

The Tanga Tanga MP is said to have been arrested on charges of corruption amounting to Sh12 billion.

In June 2020, the MP was also arrested and questioned in a Sh5.8 billion corruption investigation.

The Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) had been investigating the source of funds in the MPs accounts believed to have been fraudulently received from various ministries and state companies.

"There are reasonable grounds to believe that the suspect’s bank accounts were used as a conduit for money laundering in efforts to conceal, disguise the nature, source, disposition and movement of illicit funds and should be preserved," a statement from ARA outlined.