Henry Rotich was grilled for two straight day by crime busters who are solving the mystery behind Elgeyo-Marakwet dams that have stalled despite payments.
Mr Rotich was honoring summons issued by detectives looking into the alleged sinking of more than Sh20 billion in two phantom dam projects in County.
The CS was grilled for the second straight day by the George Kinoti-led directorate.The reason why it took long was because the lawyers were dealing with international contracts which take time to understand.
According Mr Kigen, It took a while for investigators to understand how international contracts work.
His lawyer Katwa Kigen said his client answered all the questions. “We have completed supplying the information sought by the investigators and we trust the issues are clear.”
He is also accused of writing to the National Land Commission asking officials to deal with land allocation issues to enable Kerio Valley Development Authority (KVDA) to resettle residents displaced by the projects.
The 21 Billion dam project in Elgeyo Marakwet was under the docket of Kerio Valley Development Authority (KVDA). Here is the composition of the KVDA Board which is the face of Kenya . Yes indeed you deserve respect . pic.twitter.com/WLoflXxgjx— Puff ™🇰🇪 (@onlyaterics) March 2, 2019
KVDA, which contracted Italian companies CMC di Ravenna and Itinera for the projects, is also at the centre of investigations over alleged payment of kickbacks to officials to win the Kimwarer and Arror tenders.
Last week, Mr Rotich defended himself in a newspaper advertisement, justifying the Sh20 billion paid in advance for the construction of the two dams.
In so doing, Mr Rotich ended up contradicting claims by Deputy President William Ruto that only Sh7 billion had been paid out.
Mr Rotich said that up to Sh19.8 billion had been paid to different firms in the two projects on various dates by end of last year.
The paid amount is Sh1.2 billion short of the Sh21 billion the DCI is pursuing, and Mr Rotich said the payments were largely fees paid out as part of the conditions to be met before construction started.