A group of top security officials led by Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji and Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss George Kinoti are in Italy on official duty.
The group arrived in Italy on Wednesday as they seek to recover monies paid by the government to Italian firm CMC Di Ravenna for the construction of Arror and Kimwarer dams.
They are set to meet the contractors alongside those from Assicurativi Del Comercio Estero (SACE), an Italian government-owned insurance firm also involved in the scandal.
The company (SACE) received Sh11.1 billion from the National Treasury as an insurance premium for a loan for the projects which have since stalled after Di Ravenna was declared bankrupt and unable to do the job.
This is as officials complained that the insurance firm continued to pull more money out of the Kenyan government in interest.
Another complained that the issue has been commercialised despite being a two-government deal initially.
“We are paying interest on a loan that we don’t know about. In fact, we may default and that is why the team is in Italy to see how we can have the money back,” the official told the Standard.
While the advance payments for the two dams were made in December 2017 (Arror) and November 2018 (Kimwarer), experts have questioned why the Treasury decided to pay Sh65 billion for the projects, which is 15 times the cost.
The team which has travelled to Italy also includes State Law Office officers.