- Swaleh said the past months have been difficult for him and he has been unable to even get out of his house.
- He said this is because of the publicity he received and has even thought about taking his own life.
Image: FILE
Former Director of press Service in the office of the Prime Cabinet Secretary Salim Swaleh is now asking for forgiveness.
In a video message seen by the Star, an emotional Swaleh said that he broke an unmatched trust that was built over the years and he is sorry.
“Your Excellency, you have been my father figure for the longest time that I’ve known you. We've built an unmatched trust between us and for the last one and a half I have served you, served your good office, and served you with unmatched zeal. I broke the trust and I'm so sorry about it. I'm truly remorseful about it,” he said in the video.
Swaleh said the past months have been difficult for him and he has been unable to even get out of his house.
He said this is because of the publicity he received and has even thought about taking his own life.
“The last month has been so difficult for me. I've been unable to even walk out because of the kind of publicity I received, everything people said about me just threw me into some unchartered territory. A lot of things have been running in my mind, very bad things, sometimes I feel like taking my own life,” he stated.
The former Television news anchor added he lost everything in a flash and that the bills have also become a big challenge to him as they are piling up.
Swaleh stated that his salary stopped and he has loans that need servicing.
“It's end month, bills are piling up, salary stopped abruptly, I have loans, please find it in your heart to forgive me," he said.
“Secondly, please help end this so that I can pick up the small pieces left and see where I can begin. With the kind of bad publicity I got, it is almost impossible to get another place to work. Please have mercy on me.”
According to the charge sheet, Swaleh and four others allegedly conspired to defraud Sh5.8 million from a consultancy company.
The offence is said to have been committed on diverse dates between June 4, 2014, and June 22, 2014, at the Prime Cabinet Secretary's office, specifically at the office of the Director of Press Services, within Nairobi county.
"The five jointly with others not before court conspired to defraud $45,000 equivalent to Sh5.8 million from an engineering consultancy company, by falsely pretending that you were in a position to secure tender for construction of two stadia in Kenya, a fact you knew to be false," reads the charge sheet in part.
Swaleh was supposed to plead to Sh5.8 million fraud charges.
The case had come up to confirm whether the DPP had made a decision to review the charges or have the matter proceed as it is.
But the court was informed that the application for review had been declined meaning Swaleh and his co-accused persons would take plea.