EACC to partner with FBI as war on graft intensifies

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) will now work with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to probe high profile corruption cases and share intelligence on asset tracing and recovery.

The announcement was made after a meeting between EACC chief executive officer Twalib Mbarak, chairman Archbishop Eliud Wabukhala and US ambassador to Kenya Kyle McCarter at Integrity Centre.

The US ambassador said that the FBI, going forward, will increase its collaboration with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the EACC.

FBI is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States of America.

HIGH PROFILE CASES

Mr Mbarak and McCarter however declined to reveal details of the high profile cases in which they have engaged the services of the FBI.

“We don’t have to advertise everything we do because we don’t want to educate criminals. The criminals will be caught by surprise,” Mr McCarter said.

“The people of Kenya deserve justice and we are going to deploy every resource. We want to win the war on corruption and that is our focus,” the US ambassador added.

On the recovery of assets stolen and hidden in the US, Mr McCarter said it is not going to be business as usual as intelligence-sharing between EACC and FBI is going to be intensified to bring back what belongs to Kenya.

“We are going to use every intelligence we have to recover the assets. They need to give back what they have stolen,” Mr McCarter said.

“It can’t be that be that after stealing, people just walk away. They have to be brought to justice,” he added.

COLLABORATION

Mr Mbarak said the meeting focused on strengthening collaboration, cooperation and coordination of the multi-agency approach in the fight against corruption.

“We deliberated on enhancing capacity of the commission on key areas of asset tracing and recovery, financial investigations and intelligence management,” Mr Mbarak said.

Public assets

“We endeavour as a commission to work closely will all key stakeholders towards an integrity-driven Kenyan society,” Mr Mbarak added.

He said the collaboration with the US is focused on recovery of illegally acquired public assets, high impact investigations and corruption prevention.

Last year, the government wrote to seven countries, seeking details on billions of shillings suspected to be stashed abroad by influential individuals, including prominent politicians and businessmen.

The same year, Kenya signed agreements with the United Kingdom and Switzerland, the Framework for the Return of Assets from Corruption and Crime in Kenya, whose ultimate aim is to have a structured way of the recovery of ill-acquired wealth stashed in their territories.