Anti-graft team wants county official’s accounts frozen again
What you need to know:
- Lifting the orders that had frozen the accounts belonging to Mr Jimmy Kiamba, a Nairobi County chief finance officer who was suspended, had hampered investigations on how he acquired nearly Sh400 million, the commission argued.
- Mr Kiamba lives too large for his “modest” monthly salary of Sh85,000 and acquired property through fraudulent deals by using his position in the city county government, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) claims.
- His estate includes two maisonettes in Nairobi’s South C, a plush town house in Kileleshwa, four apartments in Kilimani and eight plots in Muthaiga, Mavoko and Machakos, while he also owns six cars, according to the commission.
The anti-corruption has asked a court to reinstate the orders freezing bank accounts of a Nairobi County official it claims lives too large for his salary.
Lifting the orders that had frozen the accounts belonging to Mr Jimmy Kiamba, a Nairobi County chief finance officer who was suspended, had hampered investigations on how he acquired nearly Sh400 million, the commission argued.
Mr Kiamba lives too large for his “modest” monthly salary of Sh85,000 and acquired property through fraudulent deals by using his position in the city county government, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) claims.
His estate includes two maisonettes in Nairobi’s South C, a plush town house in Kileleshwa, four apartments in Kilimani and eight plots in Muthaiga, Mavoko and Machakos, while he also owns six cars, according to the commission.
The commission’s lawyer, Mr Benson Kyeli, argued that lifting the orders had made it difficult to the anti-corruption agency to collect evidence necessary to prove its case.
“It could not have been the intention of the court to stop any legal proceedings against Mr Kiamba, which would be the effect if the EACC would not be able to freeze the accounts and get the evidence,” he said.
Mr Kiamba’s fears that the information he may provide would be used in the criminal charges he is facing were unfounded since the law prohibits the use of such information, he further submitted.
Last month, Justice Mbogholi Msagha dismissed an application by the EACC to extend the orders freezing the accounts for six months to allow further investigations on Mr Kiamba’s multimillion-shilling estate.
The commission’s bid to have its request for lifting the orders heard immediately failed after the judge gave Mr Kiamba’s lawyer, Mr Philip Nyachoti, time to file his response.
The judge directed the lawyer to file the response within three days and scheduled the hearing on July 20.
