Sirisia MP John Waluke To Serve 7 Years In Jail If He Fails To Pay Fine

The Member of Parliament for Sirisia Constituency Mr. John Waluke is likely to serve a cumulative period of 7 years in jail if he fails to pay the fines imposed on him by the court on Thursday.

In one of the historic rulings, Mr. Waluke, who is serving his second term as an MP, was found guilty in a maize fraud that cost the taxpayer 313 million shillings.

Waluke and his associates defrauded the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) by billing it 313 million shillings for maize that they did not deliver.

In the ruling, the judge ordered John Waluke to pay 727,725,562 shillings, failure to which he will have to face a jail term. The MP was charged with five accounts of fraud and corruption.

On the first account, he was ordered to pay a fine of 100,000 shillings or serve one year in jail, a similar amount for the second account or face a similar jail term.

On the third account, the legislator was ordered to pay 500,000 shillings or serve three years in jail. On the same account, he was ordered to pay 594,175,000 shillings or go to jail for seven years.

On the fourth account, the MP was ordered to pay 500,000 shillings or serve three years in jail. He was also ordered to pay an additional 26,729,342.80 shillings or go to jail for seven years.

On the fifth account, the Sirisia MP was slapped with three hefty fines. 500,000 shillings or three years in prison, 5,121,219 shillings or seven years in jail, and 100,000,000 shillings or other seven years in prison.

His counterpart in crime Grace Wakhungu was slapped with a total fine of 707,725,562 shillings or go to jail for 7 years. If the jail terms were to be taken separately, the two would serve 39 years in jail each but the sentences would run concurrently meaning the maximum time they can serve is 7 years.

Others who benefited from the loot but were not sentenced in court alongside the two include; Lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi (Grand Mullah) who is said to have received 40 million shillings, former Deputy Chief Justice Nancy Baraza who received 5 million shillings, an unknown person who received 117 million shillings among others.

The suspects have 14 days to file an appeal. It is obvious that the two cannot raise that kind of money and if the appeal fails, the only destination for them is to go to jail.

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