Former Sports Secretary Hassan Wario was arraigned in court today and sentenced to 6 years in prison or a fine that amounts to Ksh 3.6Million over his involvement in the 2016 Rio Olympics scandal.
The ruling which took place today at Milimani law courts also involved co-accused Stephen Soi (who headed the Kenyan team to the Olympics at the time) being sentenced to a 10-year jail term or a fine of Sh103 million over misuse of public funds. The two appeared before Anti-Corruption Court Chief Magistrate Elizabeth Juma and were found guilty of corruption, abuse of office and misuse of public funds during the 2016 Olympic Games held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The charges included irregular payment of allowances, including unwanted persons in the Kenyan delegation in Rio and the purchase of air tickets for unauthorised persons, leading to the misappropriation of funds.
In its case, prosecutors alleged that Nock officials together with the Ministry of Sports engaged in the mismanagement of funds meant for the Rio Olympics resulting in the loss of public funds. The court found that the Sports officials couldn’t account for Ksh55 million of the Ksh88 million Rio Olympics funds.
The prosecution called 22 witnesses while Mr Wario was put to his defence and called seven supporting witnesses. Before joining the government, the most well-known part of Wario's life was that he was the first African curator to be appointed by the British Museum. But after serving as the Cabinet Secretary for Sports and ambassador to Austria, what came to define him was the Rio de Janeiro Olympics scandal.
In the case, Former principal secretary Richard Ekai, Haron Komen, former director of administration at the Ministry of Sports, Francis Kinyili and Patrick Kimathi Nkabu were however acquitted.