Lead image for Tea factory staff arrested over manipulated weighing scales.
Five tea factory employees have been arrested and charged over alleged manipulation of weighing scales used to receive green leaf from growers in Konoin in a crackdown over alleged losses.
Four of the suspects—Amos Kiplangat Kirui, Kiprotich Yegon, Peter Mutai and Judith Cherono Langat—were arraigned before Sotik Principal Magistrate Tonny Kwambai on Wednesday and denied the charges. They were each released on a Sh20,000 bond and a surety of a similar amount.
Dancun Kipngeno, a clerk at Chemalal Tea Factory in Konoin Constituency, pleaded guilty to using a weighing machine without a valid stamp from the Weights and Measures Department.
He was sentenced to one year in prison or a Sh10,000 fine. The four who denied the charges will appear in court for mention on September 3. Two Kenya Tea Development Authority (KTDA) managers were not charged as the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) continues to investigate their alleged role in the scheme.
The arrests followed an operation by the Tea Board of Kenya (TBK), the Weights and Measures Department and police targeting tea buying centres and factories in Konoin. Those arrested were linked to Boito and Chemalal tea factories and multinational tea companies Browns East Africa Plantations, including Karuma Estate, and George Williamsons.
The operation followed complaints from farmers that their green leaf deliveries were being under-recorded through tampered weighing machines.