Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has denied receiving Sh. 20 million bribe from a contractor to award him a tender.
While appearing before the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), Sonko said that he was not bribed by Toddy Civil Engineering Company Limited and Hardi Enterprises Limited, associated with businessman Antony Mwaura to award a tender.
The first-term governor instead said that the amount was wired into his account as payment for a piece of land. He told the detectives that he had engaged in business with the contractor before the funds were sent to his account. He denied claims that the funds were a kickback as alleged by some factions.
Sonko, who was grilled for more than four hours by the sleuths from the EACC, denied any wrongdoing. He told the team that he had sold a piece of land in Kwale County to Mwaura.
Sonko went ahead to present the detectives with a copy of the title deed for 1.74 hectares of the land registered as Kwale/Golini/383.
The deputy director of forensic investigations at EACC John Lolkoloi said that they had sensed suspicious transactions in Sonko’s account before the summon.
“Pursuant to miscellaneous application warrants No 1422 of 2019 and 2242 of 2019, we acknowledge receipt of the stated bank statements and some transaction documents requested,” read a letter from EACC, as quoted by Standard.
The commission had also asked the governor to record a statement on six transactions he undertook involving huge sums of money.