Team seeks retrial of ex-water boss
What you need to know:
- A lawyer representing the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission said it was wrong for Deputy Chief Justice Kalpana Rawal (then a High Court judge) to stop proceedings against Mr Stanley Mombo Amuti and the recovery of suspected looted public funds.
- She said the former financial controller at the National Water Conservation and Pipeline Cooperation could not explain properties worth millions of shillings in his wealth declaration forms.
- She told Appellate Judges Martha Koome, Hannah Okwengu and Festus Azangalala yesterday that between September 2007 and June 2008, the commission discovered Mr Amuti had stashed over Sh140 million in six bank accounts.
The anti-graft commission, which is appealing a ruling that set a former financial officer free, claimed he lived large and had a Sh140 million account though he earned a modest salary.
A lawyer representing the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission said it was wrong for Deputy Chief Justice Kalpana Rawal (then a High Court judge) to stop proceedings against Mr Stanley Mombo Amuti and the recovery of suspected looted public funds.
“Investigations established that Mr Amuti had unexplained assets, which should have been forfeited to the State. But the judge made a mistake in finding that we had no mandate to recover the assets,” said the lawyer Kossy Bor.
She said the former financial controller at the National Water Conservation and Pipeline Cooperation could not explain properties worth millions of shillings in his wealth declaration forms.
She told Appellate Judges Martha Koome, Hannah Okwengu and Festus Azangalala yesterday that between September 2007 and June 2008, the commission discovered Mr Amuti had stashed over Sh140 million in six bank accounts.
“This amount was transferred in his accounts at a time when the corporation had signed some contracts. This made us believe the money was from a corrupt deal,” said Ms Bor.
Other assets, she said, that raised suspicion include Sh4 million recovered in his house, three plots in Ngong Town, two houses in Umoja Estate, two plots in Umoja Innercore, and four vehicles.
She asked the Appellate Judges to overturn the decision by Justice Rawal and transfer the case to another High Court judge for retrial.
However, Mr Amuti, through lawyer Kioko Kilukumi defended the High Court ruling.
“Mr Amuti worked in the public service for 25 years and retired in 2008 when he was earning a monthly salary of Sh306,000.
“It is, therefore, not true that he illegally acquired wealth,” said Mr Kilukumi.
The lawyer said Mr Amuti had Sh39 million in his account and not Sh140 million.
He said a retrial would violate Mr Amuti’s right to a fair administrative process. The court will rule on the matter on October 2.
