Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji has ordered the arrest and prosecution of Maasai Mara University Vice Chancellor Mary Walingo and four others over misappropriation of over Sh177 million belonging to the institution.
This comes nearly a year after Citizen TV exposed the grand theft of funds at the university in an explosive exposé dubbed the Mara Heist in September 2019.
Haji said his team of investigators established that funds were withdrawn to fund fictitious expenditure and that many of the cheques had no supporting documentation to justify the expenses.
He said investigations revealed that funds withdrawn by authorised finance officers at the university were delivered to Prof Walingo through her proxies.
In a statement issued on Monday, the DPP said investigations had established that in the financial years between 2016- 2019 several cheques were used to irregularly withdraw funds from various Maasai Mara University accounts for personal use amounting to a sum of Sh177,007,754.
“…there was no justification for the withdrawal of the funds from the said accounts as there are no supporting documents for the expenditure,” said the DPP in the statement.
Prof Walingo allegedly ordered junior officers in the finance department to write cheques to banks and present them to her for signing alongside other deputy vice-chancellors (DVCs) and used the funds for personal purposes.
The other university officials implicated in the heist are Prof Simon Kasaine Ole Seno (DVC in charge of finance and administration), Prof John Almadi Obere (acting DVC in charge of academic and student affairs), Anaclet Biket Okumi (finance officer), and Noor Hassan Abdi (Prof Walingo’s driver).
The five are set to face various charges under the Anti- Corruption and Economic Crimes Act and the Penal Code.
