Two public officers accused of conspiring to defraud the government Sh49 million in subsidised fertiliser deal have been charged at a Nairobi court.
The two, Kiprotich Ronald Tonui and Edwin Ombui Oseko appeared before Milimani Magistrate Bernard Ochoi and denied several charges.
They were charged that jointly with others not before the court, they conspired to defraud the government of 19,913 bags of 50kg subsidy fertiliser valued at Sh49,787,500.
They allegedly committed the offence on July 28, 2023 at an unknown place within the country.
They faced a second count of abuse of office against the law.
The court heard that on November 7, 2023, at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development Kilimo House within Nairobi county, Kiprotich in abuse of the said office arbitrarily recommended the registration of Wilson Letuya Mempe as a farmer with 1,800 acres of land for crop farming at Melelo sublocation in Narok South.
The prosecution said the recommendation led the said farmer to redeem a total of 7,200 bags each 50kg of government subsidy fertiliser valued at Sh18,000,000.
They faced a last count of abuse of office contrary to the law.
The court was informed that Kiprotich also recommended unlawfully the registration of Wilson Marindany as a farmer with 1, 200 acres of land for crop farming in Narok which would lead to the said farmer redeeming a total 4,800 bags each 50kg of government subsidised fertiliser valued at Sh12,000,000.
They two denied the charges and were released on a Sh8 million bond each.
The case will be mentioned after two weeks.