Shamed ex-Kenyan Sports minister escapes jail over Rio scandal Hassan Wario

NAIROBI. — Former Kenyan sports minister, Hassan Wario, paid a fine to avoid spending six years in jail following his role in the misuse of public funds set aside for his nation’s 2016 Olympic Games campaign.

On Thursday, Wario was given the option of six years in prison, or paying a fine of 3,6m Kenya Shillings (US$33 000).

Wario was found guilty on Wednesday by the Kenyan Anti-Corruption Magistrate’s Court for misusing public funds, allocated to the National Olympic Committee of Kenya, for the Games in Rio.

Kenya won the most medals of any African nation in Brazil but were beset by scandals.

Athletes did not receive their Nike kits while some of them were stranded in a Rio shanty town, where gunshots were heard, as officials looked for a ‘cheap flight’ home.

In office from 2013 to 2018, Wario was guilty of “wilfully failing to comply with applicable procedures and guidelines relating to management of public funds.”

Former Nock official Stephen Soi, who was Kenya’s chef de mission for the 2016 Olympics, was convicted on five charges of corruption after diverting money meant for athletes’ travel and accommodation as well as kit from sportswear giants Nike.

He must spend 12 years in jail or pay a fine of 105m Kenya shillings (US$950 000) but has the option to appeal against his conviction.

Both men have always denied any wrongdoing.

The courts established that Sh54 million (US$490 000) set aside for the Kenyan team in Brazil could not be accounted for by the sports ministry officials in office at the time.

A total of seven people were initially charged in the case, including then NOCK president and former Olympic champion, Kipchoge Keino, but the charges against him and four others were dropped.

The scandal overshadowed Kenya finishing as the highest-placed African nation on the medals table in Rio, with six of their tally of 13 medals being gold.

Wario had cut a forlorn figure since he was charged with corruption in October 2018.

He rarely mingled with his five co-accused persons throughout the three-year trial and calculatedly avoided cameras while preferring to read newspapers, or converse with his lawyer, in hushed tones.

On Wednesday, he sat pensively in the courtroom as the trial magistrate declared him guilty of involvement in the scandal, in which officials pocketed cash meant for athletes representing Kenya, in the global sports fest.

The troubled look, however, changed suddenly, when the court sentenced Wario to a fine or six-year jail term.

He jumped with joy, and hugged his lawyer, as well as his supporters who had attended his sentencing by a Nairobi court.

“The principle of criminal justice lies with the charge sheet. The DPP deliberately excluded the three counts from any quantifiable gain or loss (attributable) to Mr Wario,” said the lawyer.

“Upon conviction, we cannot start to defend a new charge sheet with quantifiable losses or gains.’’

The lawyer also described Wario as a changed man and a law-abiding citizen, after the events of Rio fiasco, who is receptive to rehabilitation.

“The offender is remorseful. We learn from our mistakes. The mistakes strengthen us and take us to resilience.

‘’He is not a threat to the community and has no pending charges. He has been sufficiently punished,” said Sagana. — BBC/The Nation.

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