Love and wealth: Police chiefs’ rich wives

In the second part of a series on how police mint millions, officers’ spouses are conduits of wealth but others portrayed as source of anguish.

7. Augustus Maundu Mutia

When Senior Superintendent of Police Augustus Maundu Mutia appeared before the National Police Service Commission panel on Tuesday March 17, he was asked to explain what he did with Sh24,000 paid by Hass Petroleum Station for services offered by two Administration Police officers whom he assigned.

The panel claimed they had information that a sub-county commander under the command of SSP Mutia wrote to the owners of the petrol station demanding the monthly payment. He was tight-lipped.

He was then asked to explain the origin of the hundreds of thousands of shillings in cheques deposited in his account from his spouse’s bookshop and printing business in Nairobi.

He said that he and his wife were running a business that was “booming” but could not explain the nature of his “esteemed” clients.

The panel claimed they had evidence that Sh7 million had been deposited in his account through cheques and the cash was withdrawn immediately after deposit.

Commission Chairman Johnston Kavuludi asked Mr Mutia to explain the origin of each cheque transacted in the business and why the cheques are not deposited in his wife’s account since he claimed she owns the bookshop and printing business in Nairobi.

8. John Partrick Ochieng – Senior Assistant Inspector-General

Mr Ochieng, who at the time of his vetting on December 17, 2013, was the Director of the Kenya National Focal Point on Small Arms, was taken to task to explain the source of the Sh3.7 million in his account and why he was earning two salaries.

The commissioners asked him why he was still earning a salary as a police officer. Former Inspector-General of Police David Kimaiyo asked him if he had written to the police service personnel section telling them that he was earning two salaries.

“I have written to the Personnel Section but they continue placing money in my account. I wrote to them,” he said.

A member of the panel, Mr Joseph Kaguthi, read a letter written to Mr Ochieng by the then Police Commissioner Matthew Iteere asking him to refund Sh3.6 million and warning him of the consequences of earning two salaries.

He answered that he had been in and out of the offices asking them to pay him what is only due to him but it had not been effected.

“I will pay you back what you need from me,” he said.

9. Interpol’s National Central Bureau Chief Vitalis Okumu

When asked why he had failed to submit his statements to the vetting panel on Friday, June 13, 2014, the Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police said that his wife had refused to give him the bank statement.

He said he had asked his wife to hand him the statements on time but she had refused to give him when the vetting date arrived.

“When I asked her about the bank statement, she told me not to disturb her, and that she did not want to be connected to any vetting. I do not know if she earns a salary,” said the officer.

He said that he had pleaded with her and she later agreed when he told her that he risked being dismissed from the service.

He was among the officers of the ranks of Assistant Commissioner of Police and Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police to be vetted in March last year, but their results were withheld after more complaints against them surfaced, prompting further questioning.

They were recalled on June 13 for further vetting and were cleared to continue serving.

Among those who were cleared together with Mr Okumu at that time were former police spokesman Eric Kiraithe, Washington Ajuonga (Marsabit AP), Pius Barasa of Inspection Section, David Bunei (GSU Training School), Pius Macharia (Machakos County CID), David Cheruiyot (Kisumu Police), Patrick Ndunda (CID Headquarters) and Francis Kirathe (Nakuru AP).

The Interpol chief also complained about the trauma and anxiety he had undergone since the results were withheld.

“I have had it rough. Friday, I got a call from Tanzania asking me why I had to be vetted again,” Mr Okumu said.

10. Senior Superintendent Joshua Ongoro Aseto

This Senior Superintendent of Police cried before the panel, forcing it to take a break, when he was asked to disclose how he made the millions in his account.

Mr Aseto wept as the panel sought to know why he hardly makes any withdrawals from the account, which had a whopping Sh8.5 million.

When the panel resumed, the officer, who is based at the Kenya Police Service’s Vigilance House headquarters, said he was moved to tears when he recalled how he struggled to make the money.

“The Sh8.5 million in a fixed deposit account was genuinely earned. It’s my hard-earned savings and I vowed never to misuse any money I make since I was raised in poverty,” he said.

The officer who is attached to the liaison department in the office of the Director of Operations started narrating his journey from poverty to millionaire.

“I earned Sh800 a month when I secured my first job as an untrained teacher in 1984 after my ‘O’ Level exams. Getting absorbed into the police service in 1986 came as a miracle as my pay shot up to Sh2,500 a month,” he said.

“I had to scavenge on what others ate in school because my father, who was a stone cutter, could hardly make ends meet,” said the tearful senior officer.

11. Former Machakos County CID boss Pius Macharia

“I saved my money after a trip to Singapore for investigations,” CID Chief, Pius Macharia told the commission during his vetting in May last year.

The panel wanted to know the origin of the cash deposited in the officer’s account at Equity Bank, Taj Mall branch in Nairobi.

He explained that they were dollars he had saved during the trip.

He was among the nine officers who had been recalled for further interrogation after an initial vetting two months earlier.

Mr Macharia told the panel that his wife of 27 years had refused to give him her bank details, a requirement from the vetting panel.

“I requested the statements at least four times. She has maintained that the account belongs to her,” said Mr Macharia.

When he failed to convince her to hand in the documents, Mr Macharia had to request a sworn affidavit indicating that she would not submit the documents to the panel.

The nine officers, among them, Mr Macharia, were recalled on June 13 for further vetting and were cleared.

Two other senior police officers, among them Mr Kiraithe , recounted frustrations they underwent in trying to convince their spouses to furnish them with bank statements required by the vetting panel.