A brother to a former procurement official at City Hall has been charged with vandalising a hotel seized from the officer about two years ago by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) over links to corruption.
The hotel, known as The Hydeout Riviera in Kisumu County was seized from Michael Auka Ajwang’ in 2023, after the anti-graft body claimed that it was developed using kickbacks derived from tenders at City Hall.
EACC and Mr Ajwang later agreed in an out-of-court deal, which allowed the former official to refund the anti-graft body Sh22 million for the land and in default, EACC was free to auction the three-star hotel.
The commission said it was formalising handing over of the hotel to the government, when it was vandalised and extensively damaged.
The anti-graft body also said it was preparing to auction the property, but Geoffrey Oguna Ajwang’, allegedly went to the premises and maliciously removed 10 doors.
The charge sheet read to him before a Kombewa court stated that Mr Oguna maliciously damaged the premises on May 26 by removing 10 wooden doors and two aluminum door frames, all valued at Sh62,000.
A second count stated that he stole 10 doors and two door frames from the hotel on the same day.
Mr Oguna denied the charges and the court ordered him to deposit cash bail of Sh60,000 to secure his freedom.
Mr Ajwang worked at City Hall as a procurement officer in the department of supply chain management.
The anti-graft body initially targeted 11 cars, the three-star hotel in Kisumu and three motorbikes allegedly linked to kickbacks he got for allegedly giving out tenders at the city county.
He was also found with Sh799,000 cash, which he was ordered to forfeit to the government.
The commission and Mr Ajwang later agreed that the cumulative value of the properties targeted was Sh198 million. He was then ordered to pay Sh22 million as part of the deal for him to keep a parcel of land in South Sakwa.
Another Sh176 million, being the cost of developments of The Hydeout Riviera Hotel, was to be paid by Ajwang and eight others, within 12 months from the date of the judgment.
In default, the parties had agreed that the three-star hotel, should be hived off from the larger parcel of land in Kisumu and the EACC would then be free to auction it.
