DPP Orders Arrest of Maasai Mara University VC Prof. Mary Walingo over Sh170 Million Heist

Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji has ordered the immediate arrest of Maasai Mara University Vice-Chancellor Prof. Mary Walingo over Sh170 million scandal at the institution.

This is after investigators established that several cheques were used to irregularly withdraw Sh177,007,754 from the university’s bank accounts for personal use between 2016 and 2019.

Prof. Walingo will be prosecuted alongside four other suspects including Prof. Simon Kasaine Ole Seno (Deputy Vice Chancellor-Finance), Prof. John Almadi Obere (former Deputy VC-Academic and Student Affairs), Anaclet Biket Okumu (Finance Officer) and Noor Hassan Abdi (the Vice Chancellor’s driver).

“…there was no justification for the withdrawal of the funds from the said accounts as there are no supporting documents for the expenditure,” Haji said in a statement on Monday.

Evidence gathered showed that money withdrawn by authorized finance officers working at the university was delivered to Prof. Walingo through proxies, Haji added.

“Despite the University having a well-developed accounting system known as the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System and proper books of finance, there was a deliberate failure by officers in the University’s finance department to record the subject transactions/cheque withdrawals in the University’s ERP system and books of record in an attempt to hide the particular transactions from the University’s financial records,” noted Haji, adding that the university lost over Sh170 million as a result.

The five are facing various corruption-related charges under the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act and Penal Code.

The scandal at the university was revealed in an explosive exposé dubbed the Mara Heist in September 2019 by Citizen TV.