Nine key suspects allegedly involved in the supply of poisonous sugar in Kenya were Thursday arraigned in court in a consolidated charge sheet.
The nine were charged with putting the lives of millions of Kenyans at risk by consuming the contaminated sugar.
The Nine; Bernard Njinu Njiraini, Joseph Kiago Kaguru, Derrick Njeru Kago, Peter Njoroge Mwangi, Crispus Waithaka Macharia, Mohamed Hassan Ali, Abdi Hirsi Yusuf, Pollyanne Njeri Kamau, Gilbert Zully Benzi are said to have conspired to steal condemned brown sugar.
According to the charge sheet, on diverse dates between December 2022 and May 2023, the accused persons conspired to steal the condemned brown sugar valued at Ksh 20 million and intended to use it as a raw material for Industrial Ethanol manufacturing.
Bernard Njinu Njiraini, the Managing Director of Kenya Bureau of Standards was separately charged with misuse of office for allowing the conversion of condemned brown sugar into retail sugar.
Joseph Kiago Kaguru the Deputy Commissioner Kenya Revenue Authority was also separately charged with misuse of office to arbitrarily single source a company trading as Vinepack Limited to convert condemned brown sugar into ethanol without competitive bidding as directed by the Attorney General.
All the accused persons have so far denied the charges and are out on cash bail.
The case will proceed on July 28, 2023 for pretrial.
