BY SAM ALFAN.
Former Kenya Reinsurance Corporation financial controller Faustin Kinyua and an ex-reinsurance manager Charles Gichane have been fined Sh7.3 million each failure to which they will serve three years in jail.
Kinyua was found guilty of abuse of office when he allocated and transferred a house belonging to the corporation situated in Villa Franca Estate in Nairobi to Gichane, who was accused of acquiring the property fraudulently.
“This was a well-chereographed fraudulent scheme that was executed with the complicity of insiders sitting right inside Kenya Re-Insurance corporation limited where the first accused the facilitator in chief,” chief magistrate Lawrence Mugambi said.
“In view of the findings above, I do find that the prosecution has succeeded in proving count 1 relating to abuse of office against the first accused and further fraudulent acquisition of public property on second count, beyond reasonable doubt,” ruled Magistrate Mugambi.
He added that Kinyua had a hand in that scheme, given the manner in which he handled the cheque after receiving it.
“To allow a cheque meant to clear debts owed to Kenya Re-Insurance to be used to purportedly pay for the purchase price of property belonging to Kenya Re-Insurance corporation to such individual is double blow to Kenya Re and gross abuse of office by the first accused person,” he said.
The court further ordered the house at Villa Franca Estate be reverted to Kenya Reinsurance.
In their mitigation, Kinyua said that he has health issues which has seen him in and out of the hospital adding that he has a daughter studying in the UK and her education might suffer should he be incarcerated.
Gichane asked the court to consider his plea arguing that he is an elderly man of 68 years and has five grandchildren under his care.
In 2014 the two were charged afresh after the High Court ordered that the fresh trial after ruling that the earlier case was defective.
They committed the offence on diverse dates between August 19 and 27, 2003.
