It is almost three years since the heinous murder of self proclaimed billionaire and outspoken business mogul Jacob Juma. Juma, a vicious critic of the government was sprayed with bullets on the night of May 5th 2019.
Even though his death has never been resolved, there are still a lot of questions surrounding the source of his wealth. Who was Jacob Juma and how did he rise to be so powerful?
In 2004, Juma’s firm Erad Supplies was supposed to supply 40,000 tonnes of maize to the government. However, he didn’t supply the maize but ended up being paid for the services.
Former NCPB boss Tirop Kosgey yesterday gave conflicting evidence on why the firm did not supply the maize.
He said Erad Supplies produced forged invoices to obtain letters of credit to import maize. Lawyer Nelson Havi accused Kosgey of being a liar, saying his testimony conflicted with what he gave to the EACC in 2013. He at the time said that the government was able to pay but had no adequate funds for all bidders, Havi said.
Erad was one of the five companies contracted by the NCPB to import maize during the 2004 drought. The others were Puma Holdings, Euroworld Company, Freba Holdings and Hola Company.
Kosgey said he signed the contract between Erad and the National Cereals and Produce Board but could not confirm the number of invoices that were forged.