Sirisia MP John Waluke (right) and his associate Grace Wakhungu during a past court session. (Photo: Nation Media Group).

Kenyan member of parliament John Waluke starts serving the 67 years sentence that the High Court slapped on him in what has been termed the most dramatic corruption cases in the country’s history.

Lawmaker Waluke, representing Sirisia constituency of Bungoma County in western Kenya, is headed to life-in-prison after the High Court refused to set aside his conviction, following his appeal.

Justice Esther Maina on Thursday dismissed the appeal lodged by Waluke and his business associate, Ms Grace Wakhungu, against their conviction and sentencing over the Sh297 million maize scandal.

Hence, Waluke will now serve 67 years in jail while Ms Wakhungu will serve 69 years for fraud.

Justice Maina said the seven-decade sentences were not excessive and were within law.

“After carefully considering evidence, this court came to the conclusion that the appeals have no merit. The criminal charges were proved beyond reasonable doubt,” said the judge, as reported on the Nation newspaper.

While dismissing the appeal, she also directed the appellants to pay their fines: Sh727 million ($6 million) for Mr Waluke and Sh707 million ($5.9 million) for Ms Wakhungu, or serve the jail sentences.

According to the Nation, the judge found that the sum of Sh297,386,505 paid to their trading company, Erad Supplies and General Contractors Limited, by the Kenya National Cereals and Produce Board in 2013 was based on a fraud.

“The invoice upon which the claim for payment was based was a forgery. Mr Waluke presented it to an arbitrator knowing very well Erad Supplies and General Contractors Limited had no dealing with the maker of the invoice (Chelsea Freight Ltd) and as a result it was paid the sums by a public body,” said Justice Maina.

The convicts faced five counts related to uttering a false invoices, perjury and fraudulent acquisition of public property. They committed the offenses between 2009 and 2013.

At trial, the prosecution called 27 witnesses to testify in the corruption case that started following investigations by the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee.

The trial court found that the graft offenses committed were serious, saying evidence tabled by the prosecution demonstrated that the invoice used to claim for the funds was fake, hence there was fraud.

The genesis of the dispute is the sum of Sh297 million received by the company from NCPB for supply of 40,000 metric tonnes of maize in 2004.

“At the time there was scarcity of maize in the country and the government had instructed NCPB, through the Strategic Grain Reserve, to import maize,” Nation reported.

Erad had won a tender from NCPB for supply of 40,000 metric tonnes but was not issued with a letter of credit, unlike the other four firms which had also won the tender.

The other firms were Hala General Trading LLC (40,000 metric tonnes), Versatrade International CC (40,000 metric tonnes), Purma Holdings Ltd (30,000 metric tonnes) and Freba Investments (30,000 metric tonnes).

Erad did not supply the maize despite submitting its tender documents and executing the contract for the supply of the same, the prosecution said.