DCI officers have started grilling senior Uasin Gishu county officials as part the probe into the Finland education scam.
The DCI team from the Economic and Commercial Crimes Unit was in Eldoret where they questioned more than 200 parents and students affected by the scam before moving to Nairobi where the senior officers have been summoned.
As the DCI probe continues, reports indicated that a senior Uasin Gishu county official linked to the Finland education scam has fled the country together with his family.
Travel documents of those linked to the matter have not been confiscated.
Uasin Gishu Senator Jackson Mandago and five other county officials are among those lined up to be questioned at the DCI headquarters in Nairobi.
"I am ready to record statements with relevant authorities over this matter if required to do so," Mandago said.
Last weekend, Mandago, Governor Jonathan Bii and other county leaders met in Eldoret to discuss how to resolve the issues surrounding the Finland education saga.
The affected parents are demanding a refund of the money they paid to the county.
The parents, led by Edward Kiptek, said they had each paid more than Sh1 million to the county for their children to study in Finland but they missed out on the programme.
"We have told the DCI that we need the money back because we are no longer interested in the Finland programme," Kiptek said.
The angry parents had three weeks ago stormed Governor Bii's office, demanding a refund. But Bii said he knew nothing about the programme that had been started during Mandago's regime.
"Everyone should carry their own cross and parents who are complaining should also look for Mandago because he is the one who started the programme," Bii said.
He explained that the programme was run by a private trust in whose account the parents deposited the money.
The account had only Sh1.8 million balance and a deficit of Sh84 million, according to Bii.
However, Mandago said he handed over the programme to Bii's administration with more than Sh104 million in the accounts for the programme.
Mandago admitted that he initiated the programme and still believed it is a noble initiative to help local youth get opportunities abroad.
When Mandago and Bii met last weekend they did not issue a statement of what they agreed but sources said they resolved to meet the affected parents and then issue a statement at the end of this week.
Some of the affected parents have threatened to strip naked and cause an embarrassment at the Devolution Conference to be held in Eldoret from August 15 to 19.
President William Ruto is scheduled to attend and the parents have insisted that there will be no devolution conference unless they are refunded the money.
Authorities are making efforts to forestall the embarrassment.
