Dramatic scenes were witnessed at the home of former Isiolo South MP Abdi Tepo who shot at detectives from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) trying to block their entry into his house to conduct a search.
The sleuths had been investigating the former parliamentarian’s wife, Halima Gura Roka, who was a Quality Assurance Officer at the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) for graft, leading them to search their residence. READ FULL STORY
Upon arriving at the home, they were met with gunshots from the former MP, who was trying to prevent access to the house. They managed to contain the situation and proceeded to search the premises, focusing on the wife, who was a prime suspect in the graft scandal.
“The couple was arrested on Thursday afternoon after the MP purported to open fire at EACC detectives who had gone to his residence for a search operation targeting his wife, a prime suspect in the multi-million NHIF graft scandal under investigation by the Commission,” EACC wrote in a statement.
The search would lead to the discovery of suitcases filled with US dollars, estimated to be in millions. Upon forensic analysis by the EACC, the wads of cash were established as fake.
Other items were found during the search including assorted chemicals and a printing machine suspected to be used for making fake notes as well as a firearm suspected to be the one used by the former MP.
“This evening, OCS EACC Police Station handed over the former MP, his wife, and various recovered items, including the fake notes, Ceska Pistol with an expired firearm permit, and assorted chemicals, to the DCI under whose jurisdiction the matter lies,” the statement read.
EACC expounded on its reason behind the search, noting that the MP’s wife was a former employee of NHIF who liaised with other officials to assist a pharmacy in defrauding the national health insurer of Kshs 199 million.
“Today’s operation targeted seven prime suspects in the NHIF scam, including the MP’s wife, a former NHIF Quality Assurance Officer, the Eastleigh NHIF Branch Manager, and 5 Directors of Beirut Pharmacy which fraudulently obtained Kes.199 million from NHIF through fictitious claims facilitated by the NHIF officials.
The Beirut Pharmacy matter is among several NHIF cases under investigation to inform prosecution of any culpable persons and recovery of lost public funds,” the detectives noted.
