Nairobi - Kenya's Finance Minister Henry
Rotich pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to corruption charges over
the award of two dam tenders, a day after his detention in an
unprecedented move against a sitting minister in a country
notorious for graft.
Rotich and other senior officials are accused of conspiring
to defraud the public, among other charges.
Dressed in a suit and tie and standing next to his number
two at the ministry, Principal Secretary Kamau Thugge, Rotich
denied the charges as they were read out to him by prosecutors
before a packed anti-corruption court in Nairobi.
The charges against Rotich stem from a police investigation
into the misuse of funds in two dam projects planned for the
west of the country, overseen by Italian construction company
CMC Di Ravenna.
Kenya will also seek the extradition of Paolo Porcelli, the
Italian director of CMC di Ravenna, to face charges, the
director of public prosecutions told Reuters on Tuesday.
"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," Noordin Haji said.
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".
The two dams were budgeted to cost 46 billion shillings
($446 million) but the treasury borrowed 63 billion instead,
Haji said on Monday, needlessly ratcheting up Kenya's ballooning
public debt, which stands at around 55% of GDP.