NAIROBI, Kenya — A Milimani court has acquitted former Embakasi East parliamentary aspirant Francis Mureithi Wambugu of Sh320 million fraud charges after finding that prosecutors failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt.
Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Robinson Ondieki ruled that the State’s evidence did not meet the legal threshold required to sustain a criminal conviction, bringing to an end a five-year prosecution that centred on an alleged food supply tender scam at the Department of Defence (DoD).
“The prosecution’s evidence was insufficient to establish the offence as charged,” Magistrate Ondieki held in his ruling, acquitting Mureithi under Section 210 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Mureithi had been charged alongside businessman Francis Mwaura over claims that they defrauded a retired United Nations diplomat of Sh320 million by falsely promising to secure a lucrative DoD food supply contract.
The complaint was lodged by Haile Menkerios, a former Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and head of the United Nations Office to the African Union, based in Addis Ababa.
According to the prosecution, the two accused allegedly misrepresented to the complainant, described in court documents as an Eritrean national, that they had the capacity and connections to facilitate the supply of foodstuffs to the DoD.
The State alleged that this misrepresentation induced the complainant to part with large sums of money between April and November 2016.
Prosecutors told the court that Sh320 million was transferred to accounts linked to Mureithi through his company, Doc Find Limited, as well as several other entities, including Wina Trading Limited, New Research Path Company, Hammond Agencies, and Sembel Trading.
Court records indicated that the funds were wired on various dates between April 29 and November 3, 2016.
The acquittal came shortly after the prosecution formally closed its case last week, following testimony from two witnesses, Bonaventure and Josias Mugendi Njahi. On December 17, the State informed the court that it had no further witnesses to call.
During the trial, prosecution witness Abbay Abeba testified that the accused introduced themselves to her as company directors and persuaded her to part with more than USD 200,000 through a combination of cash payments and bank transfers.
She told the court that the money was never refunded and said she possessed bank statements and signed agreements to support her claims.
Abbay said the accused were introduced to her by a man identified as Hussein Osman, and that some of the funds were channelled through her lawyer for an alleged supply of items to the Ministry of Defence that never materialised.
The court also heard evidence from advocate Julius Rotich, who testified that in July 2020, he was summoned to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations offices in Parklands.
He said detectives showed him memoranda of understanding he had drafted on the instructions of Francis Mwaura, relating to the supply of foodstuffs to the DoD. Rotich told the court he had been led to believe that Doc Find Limited had already secured the contract.
However, in assessing the totality of the evidence, Magistrate Ondieki found that key elements of the alleged offence had not been proved, including the existence of a genuine DoD tender and a clear link between the accused and any fraudulent misrepresentation.
The ruling underscores the high evidentiary bar required in criminal fraud cases, particularly those involving complex commercial transactions and claims of government procurement, and brings closure to a case that had drawn public interest due to the sums involved and the political profile of the accused.
