A lawyer representing two major suspects in the National Youth Service (NYS) scandal Monday distanced himself from the saga and told MPs that police only implicated him because he refused to offer them a bribe.
Standing before the National Assembly Public Accounts Committee that is probing the Sh1.9 billion scandal, Lawyer Patrick Ogola said he hadn’t received any payments from the Youth Service since he had never been a registered supplier in the first place.
Ogola had earlier represented NYS suspects Ben Gethi and John Kago in their purchase of houses before the whistle was blown over the saga.
He revealed that he handled at least Sh40 million for his clients as a “conveyancing advocate”, something he said was within the spaces of the law.
“I am at a complete loss as to how the money sent to my account and paid out in the regular course of my business is tied to cash suspected to have been stolen from the NYS,” he said.
The lawyer questioned why his clients’ companies had never been mentioned as suppliers engaged in suspicious NYS payments, saying he was included because he stood firm against bribing the police.
“I was harassed, intimidated, threatened and finally openly told I would need to bribe them to secure a report clearing me of any wrongdoing,” Ogola said.