Economy
DPP withdraws NYS fraud charges against former PS Lilian Omollo
Monday June 12 2023
Former Youth and Gender PS Lillian Omollo. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji has applied to withdraw the Sh468 million National Youth Service (NYS) graft charges against former Youth and Gender Permanent Secretary Lillian Mbogo-Omollo.
In the application filed before the Anti-Corruption court in Milimani, the DPP applied to withdraw abuse of office and conspiracy to commit felony charges, among others, under section 87 (a) of the criminal procedure code, saying none of the witnesses who have testified in the cases so far, has implicated her directly or indirectly.
Also read: Noordin Haji: Why withdrawal of high profile graft cases does not daunt career sleuth
Further, the DPP said that the payments were concluded before Ms Omollo came into office and that she appointed a verification committee to authenticate pending bills recommended for payment once she took over the post on December 18, 2015.
“That it is in the interest of the administration of justice and the need to prevent and avoid abuse of court process that the instant application should be allowed,” senior principal prosecution counsel Vera Hamisi said in the application.
Ms Omollo was charged on May 29, 2018, alongside senior NYS officials, including former director-general Richard Ndubai, 30 other civil servants in the senior, middle and lower cadre and suppliers to the state agency.
Read: Unfair dismissal earns former PS one shilling
They faced multiple charges in three cases, and so far, 12 witnesses have testified in all the cases.
The DPP noted that Ms Omollo was not the Authority to Incur Expenditure (AIE) holder responsible for approving accountable documents such as payment vouchers and local purchase orders, among others presented before the different courts.
“It was not within the 1st accused [Ms Omollo] person’s scope of work to receive and approve the accountable documents which are questioned in the ongoing cases,” the DPP said.
Ms Omollo had applied for a review of her charges in September 2020 to the DPP. She pointed out that immediately she assumed office, she encountered over 5,000 payment claims worth Sh10 billion from various suppliers to the NYS. Some of the claims, she said, dated back to 2013/2014 financial years when NYS was under the Ministry of Devolution and Planning.
“Having regard to the high number of claims and the amounts demanded by the suppliers, I diligently took various steps to ensure the pending bills were verified before any decision to settle them was taken,” she said in her application for review.
