A U.S. federal indictment has implicated a Kenyan businessman in the diversion of American-funded HIV test kits from the state-run medical supply agency.
- •The U.S. Department of Justice charged Eric Ndung’u Mwangi, 40, with conspiring to divert medical commodities financed by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA).
- •Investigators say the goods, intended for HIV and family-planning programs, were systematically stolen and sold abroad between 2015 and 2019.
- •According to court documents, Mwangi used his company — Linear Diagnostics — to remove HIV test kits and other USAID-funded products from KEMSA stores.
“This was an incredibly complicated investigation, spanning years and an ocean. These defendants jeopardized a vital public health mission and caused a significant loss to the American taxpayers,” said U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina, Bryan Stirling.
The supplies were allegedly sold to Caribbean Medical Supplies Inc., a Guyanese firm owned by Davendra Rampersaud, who then supplied them to the Guyana Ministry of Health.
U.S. investigators say Rampersaud paid Mwangi more than US$177,000 (KSh 23 million) for the stolen commodities. Rampersaud later pleaded guilty to conspiracy and theft charges after being arrested in Miami in 2023, receiving time served, a fine of $84,000 and three years of supervised release.
Mwangi was arrested by Kenyan authorities in 2021 and remains on trial in Kenya for related charges. He and two other traders, Jones Oluoch and Robert Njoya, were first charged in Nairobi in February 2021. The U.S. indictment was filed in the District of South Carolina and unsealed on September 30.
The investigation was led by USAID’s Office of Inspector General with assistance from the Department of State, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Homeland Security Investigations.
The case focuses on the Kenya Medical Commodities Program, a US$650 million (KSh 84 billion) USAID initiative meant to secure and distribute HIV/AIDS, malaria, and family-planning commodities through KEMSA.
