Agency now targets suspects' assets as war on graft widens

After successfully recovering a house believed to have been acquired from proceeds of crime, the Assets Recovery Agency has now trained its guns on more suspects and sought orders freezing several properties.

Among the suspects whose properties are being targeted are persons facing charges in connection to the loss of more than Sh8 billion at the National Youth Service (NYS), commonly referred to as NYS I and NYS II.

102 CASES

A document presented to Parliament in July shows that the total value of properties traced by a multi-agency team is Sh21.5 billion, while assets preserved so far stand at Sh1.99 billion.

The team, comprising of the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and the ARA among others, also stated that assets recovered are at Sh3.1 billion while there are ongoing 102 cases.

SH48.5 MILLION

The assets being pursued include some 35 vehicles, 33 parcels of land and cash in various bank accounts and smuggled gold worth Sh100 million. Among the assets forfeited to the State is a house worth Sh48.5 million in Nairobi’s Lavington estate, which ARA successfully argued was purchased from monies stolen from the Youth and Enterprise Development Fund. The monies suspected to have been lost at the Fund were Sh180 million.

FORFEITURE

Justice Hedwig Ong’undi of the anti-corruption division of the High Court also allowed the ARA to recover Sh8.8 million held in an account belonging to a businessman.

Section 90 of the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act (POCAMLA) provides that, where a preservation order is in force, the Agency may apply to the High Court for an order of forfeiture to the government of all or any of the property that is subject to the preservation order.

THIRD PARTIES

On the Youth Fund, the court heard that businessman Mukuria Ngamau used his company, Quorandum Limited, to receive money from the fund and made several transactions with third parties, including purchasing a duplex apartment in the upmarket Lavington neighbourhood.

In her ruling, Justice Ong’udi ordered that the house be forfeited to ARA. Evidence presented in court show that Mr Ngamau made several cash withdrawals from funds wired to his account at Chase bank then transferred to personal accounts of persons closely related to him, including his spouse Doreen Waithera Ng’ang’a and Ms Tabitha Wanjiku Ngamau, his mother.

TEN ACCOUNTS

Quorandum paid Sh8.7 million to the businessman’s account at Barclays Bank of Kenya Limited, which has since been recovered. Mr Ngamau also paid Sh9.24 million to Britcom International, a UK-based company, for the purchase of an excavator/grader, but there was no evidence to show the machine was delivered.

On Monday, ARA got orders freezing 10 accounts registered in the names of former Youth and Gender PS Lilian Omollo, her children and companies where she and her spouse are directors. The accounts had more than Sh40 million and the agency believes that these were siphoned from the NYS.

FROZEN

The agency has also frozen properties belonging to Lucy Wambui Ngirita and her family members, who are accused of receiving millions from NYS for goods not supplied. The properties are situated in Waitaluk in Trans Nzoia County and Naivasha.

The court has also frozen properties belonging to businessman James Thuita, whose company — Firstling Supplies — is alleged to have received millions of shillings from NYS. Mr Thuita and his co-directors, Kenneth Mwathi Mburu and Yvonne Wanjiku, are facing charges of fraudulently receiving Sh115.5 million for goods not supplied.

DEPOSITS

The agency is targeting four properties including residential property in Thome, Garden estate and Runda. Justice Ong’udi is also expected to give her decision in a case against Pamela Aboo whose account was frozen with Sh20 million. Ms Aboo is the wife of a senior Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) official who is suspected to have made the deposits.

And although she defended herself saying the funds were from her various businesses, she did not present to the court any form of proof as invoices and payments from customers, or evidence of payments to suppliers for goods received or services rendered by her businesses, as proof of the existence of such business. The Agency said the deposits were made on her behalf by Alex Mukhwana Khisa, her husband.

TARGETED

Also targeted is former City Hall’s chief finance officer Jimmy Kiamba, whom Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) wants forced to forfeit Sh1,159,820,617. The Commission is targeting two maisonette’s in Nairobi’s South C, plots in Mavoko and Kiandani in Machakos, Bandari Villas in Nairobi South C, an apartment on Pritt Lane and Runda Water Estate in Nairobi.

Also targeted is a town house in Kileleshwa and some properties in Old Muthaiga estate and six vehicles. Migori Governor Okoth Obado has also suffered a similar fate as EACC sought orders freezing his accounts on claims that he could have siphoned over Sh2.5 billion from the county coffers.

Ms Charity Wangui Gethi, the mother of businessman Gethi — who is facing charges in the NYS I — is fighting to get back a Jeep vehicle. The orders preserving the vehicle were obtained by ARA in 2016.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The version of this story has changed after a Parliamentary Report absolved one of the people mentioned in the case.