Deputy President William Ruto’s close ally Mathira Member of Parliament was late Monday arrested and taken to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters for questioning.
The lawmaker has been under the radar of investigative agencies over some Sh12.5 billion that passed through his bank accounts believed to have been stolen from public funds.
Rigathi is suspected to have used proxies to fraudulently secure tenders using 22 companies that have him listed as the sole beneficiary.
The legislator is a brother to the late Nyeri Governor Nderitu Gachagua
The Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) has been probing money laundering and graft claims against the MP just recently freezing some of his bank accounts, declaring that the funds were proceeds of crime involving public funds.
He is accused of stealing the money between 2013 and 2020.
The MP has also been notoriously winning major tenders in various county governments, State agencies, and ministries.
The ARA in their investigations say that on March 30th, it received information into suspected complex money laundering schemes and proceeds of crime involving public funds from the Lands Ministry, State Department for Special Planning, Ministry of Health, Bungoma County government, Mathira Constituency Development Funds, Nyeri County government and National Irrigation Board.
After a closer look, the agency established that on diverse dates between 2013 and 2020, Gachagua’s three personal accounts conducted a series of huge suspicious debit transactions amounting to Sh7,330,011,256 and total credit of Sh12,530,784,485.
Rigathi has maintained his innocence claiming he earned his money through hard work.
