Kebs MD Charles Ongwae. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
A Nairobi court will rule later today whether Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) Managing Director Charles Ongwae and other senior employees of the agency will be released on bond.
Mr Ongwae alongside Eric Chesire, quality assurance and inspection director at Kebs, and others denied charges of attempted murder, abuse of office, selling substandard goods and breach of trust.
DANGEROUS
The court heard that as public officials, they allowed the importation of 5,846,000 kilogrammes of substandard compound fertiliser.
The said fertiliser allegedly contained mercury, a substance dangerous to human health and the environment.
State prosecutor Alexander Muteti told the court that the substandard fertiliser was allegedly imported by OCP (K) Limited and was in Eldoret and Narok.
Mr Ongwae was charged in a different file with procuring substandard mark-of-quality stickers.
The court heard that Mr Ongwae together with others gave the contract worth Sh882 million to Madras Security Printers Private Ltd, yet the company had no capacity to supply the stickers.
The charges include abuse of office and conspiracy to commit an economic crime, among others.
The accused persons through their lawyers argued to be released on bail saying they were still innocent and it was their right.
The prosecution led by Mr Muteti opposed their release arguing that they are likely to interfere with witnesses and the investigations or dissuade witnesses from testifying.
Mr Muteti told Senior Principal Magistrate Kennedy Cheruiyot that there is a real likelihood that the the officials will interfere with ongoing investigations.
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