Kenyan legend Keino facing corruption charges

NAIROBI, KENYA >> Kenyan running great Kip Keino has been named as a suspect in a corruption investigation in his home country and given until the end of Monday to hand himself over to police or face arrest.

The 78-year-old Keino, the former head of Kenya’s Olympic committee, is one of seven ex-officials who will face charges of corruption, abuse of office and embezzlement relating to the misappropriation of more than $545,000 that was meant to be used to fund Kenyan athletes at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Kenya’s public prosecutor said.

Also named is Hassan Wario, the country’s former minister of sport, and Stephen Arap Soi, Kenya’s team leader at the 2016 Rio Games and the former deputy treasurer of the Kenyan Olympic committee.

The announcement Saturday by the director of public prosecutions that the seven should now be charged follows nearly two years of investigations after Kenya’s 2016 Olympics were marred by allegations that officials stole hundreds of thousands of dollars meant for Team Kenya.

Keino is a two-time Olympic champion whose victory in the 1,500 meters at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City opened the way for decades of dominance by Kenyan distance runners. He also won gold in the 3,000 meters steeplechase at the Munich Olympics four years later.

He was the chairman of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya at the time of the alleged offenses and honored at the opening ceremony at the 2016 Rio Olympics when he became the first recipient of the Olympic Laurel for his work in the Olympic movement.

The other four suspects are Richard Ekai, Harun Chebet and Patrick Nkabu, all former officials under Wario at the ministry of sports, and Francis Kanyili, the former secretary general of the Olympic committee.

The seven are accused of embezzling more than $200,000, wasting more than $150,000 on unused air tickets to Rio, overpaying allowances amounting to nearly $150,000 and incurring tens of thousands of dollars of other expenditure on “unauthorized persons.”

Director of public prosecutions Noordin Haji said the directorate of criminal investigations (DCI), a special crimes unit, had been investigating the allegations of corruption since late 2016. After nearly two years, Haji said he was “satisfied that there is sufficient evidence” to charge the seven.

They have until the end of Monday to report to the headquarters of the DCI or warrants for their arrest would be issued, Haji said. The prosecutor ordered them to then be arraigned in court.