Kenya’s Finance Minister Henry Rotich has pleaded not guilty to corruption charges, a day after his arrest over graft in a multi-million dollar project to build two massive dams.
Rotich appeared in an anti-corruption court in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, on Tuesday along with his deputy, Kamau Thugge.
Prosecutors charged him with multiple counts, including abuse of office, conspiracy to defraud the public, failure to comply with guidelines relating to procurement and committing an offence of financial misconduct, among others.
Rotich denied the charges.
His arrest on Monday marked the first time a sitting Kenyan government minister has been held on corruption charges. He is among 28 officials accused of wrongdoing in the dam project overseen by the Italian construction company CMC Di Ravenna.
The two dams were budgeted to cost $446m, but the treasury had increased this amount by $164m, Noordin Haji, the director of public prosecutions, said on Monday, a move that needlessly ratcheted up Kenya’s ballooning public debt.
Some $180m has already been paid out, with little construction to show for it, Haji said.
Another $6m was paid out for the resettlement of people living in areas that would be affected by the project, but there is no evidence of land being acquired for this, he added.
Al Jazeera’s Catherine Soi, reporting from Samburu County, said Kenyans were following “very closely” the “hugely significant” case, adding that the high-profile minister is a close ally of both President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto.
“He is the face of Kenya in meetings with important financial institutions like the IMF and the World Bank, as well as when it comes to sourcing for international loans to fund the infrastructure megaprojects that are going on.”
CMC di Ravenna has denied any wrongdoing.
In a statement on Monday, the company said it had not been informed of “any official communication from the Kenyan authorities… CMC is certain of the correctness of the work of the company and its representatives, both in Italy and abroad”.
Haji told Reuters on Tuesday that Kenya will also seek the extradition of Paolo Porcelli, the Italian director of CMC di Ravenna, to face charges.
“We have the Italian individual, he has not managed to present himself so we will be seeking for his extradition to come and face the charges here in Kenya. We will also issue an international arrest warrant,” he said.
