EACC recovers assets worth Sh3.1 billion

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) says it has recovered Sh3.1 billion worth of public assets between January and May 20, bringing to almost Sh10 billion the value of property seized in the past five years.

The Sh3.1 billion accounts for a third of all recoveries the commission has made in the past five years as the new man at the helm of the commission, Chief Executive Officer Twalib Mbarak, puts more emphasis on returning to the public illegally acquired land and property instead of court battles with the alleged grabbers.

The surge in asset recoveries comes as Mr Mbarak seeks to impose his mark on the agency after he was appointed in January 2019, replacing Halakhe Waqo whose non-renewable six-year tenure expired on January 10, 2019.

“Since my taking over at EACC, I have been focusing on four things namely: high impact cases, systems review, asset recovery, and communication with the public towards rebuilding the commission’s image,” said Mr Mbarak.

“We are filing more suits to recover public properties. We are even filing more suits to recover railway land that were illegally allocated to individuals in Nakuru, Kisumu, Mombasa, Kitengela and Nairobi,” he added.

REORGANISATION

Shortly after he landed at EACC headquarters at Integrity Centre, Mr Mbarak instituted organisation-wide personnel movements across the commission’s 13 regional offices and headquarters.

The reorganisation affected office managers, investigators, educators, analysts and even drivers; as staff were reshuffled from one station to another.

Among the accusations against EACC in the past has been how some investigators and analysts were kicked out of Nairobi when they started investigating certain individuals who enjoyed protection.

Others were redeployed back to the National Police Service (NPS) as punishment for not towing the line.

EFFICIENCY

The reshuffle is understood to have addressed some of these issues. The realignments was not just with regard to staff but even how work is being done.

“With regards to processes, right now we don’t just send files to the DPP. Whenever we come across a high impact case, I give our team which sits down with his people and they work together to pore over the evidence and point out any loopholes which are quickly filled.

"In that way, we have cut on the bureaucracy between the DPP and the EACC and the working relations have improved, not only with the DPP but also the DCI,” said Mr Mbarak.

With regard to asset recovery, EACC’s report says that between January 1 and March 31, the commission recovered public assets amounting to Sh2.73 billion.

These included four cases of unexplained cash deposits amounting to Sh3.9 million and land and immovable properties totalling to Sh2.7 billion.

LAND SEIZED

The land and immovable properties consist of 16 properties in Nakuru (eight properties), Nairobi (two) and one each in Sotik, Kisumu, Malindi, Eldoret, Naivasha and Meru.

The particular properties consist of land belonging to Sotik stadium within Bomet County (Kericho/Sotik 553) valued at Sh2.4 million; land belonging to the University of Nairobi within Nairobi County that was irregularly acquired by Aberdare Engineering Contractors Ltd (L.R No. 1/534 I.R. 112612) and which is valued at Sh2 billion; Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization land in Naivasha (LR No. 5211/7) valued at Sh420 million; and Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) land (MN/1/VI/2406) valued at Sh45 million.

Others are land belonging to Government of Kenya Pool Housing Malindi (LR 7547) valued at Sh35 million, Meru County Government land (Meru Municipality Block 1/319) valued at Sh30 million, Uasin Gishu County land (Eldoret Municipality Block 15/1743) valued at Sh40 million, Kenya Railways Corporation land in Kisumu (Kisumu/Municipality Block 7/474), which was recovered following the court ruling of January 25, and is valued at Sh30 million.

Four of the properties that were recovered in Nakuru belonged to the Department of Housing (Nakuru Mun. Block 4/226, Nakuru Mun. Block 4/227, Nakuru Mun. Block 4/228 and Nakuru Mun. Block 5/246), all with a combined value of Sh69.2 million.

INJUNCTIONS

Two properties (Nakuru Mun. Block 13/245 and Nakuru Mun. Block 13/246) with a value of Sh42 million have been handed back to the Department of Survey while a similar number (Nakuru Mun. Block 15/942 and Nakuru Mun. Block 15/943), valued at Sh16 million, have been handed back to Muslim Public School.

Between April 1 and May 20, two properties were recovered. These are Eldoret Block 4/129, 52, 53, 54 and 55, which were recovered for the Judiciary, the County Government of Uasin Gishu and Administration Police.

These plots are valued at Sh140 million. The second one, Kisumu Block 8/22, was recovered for the Judiciary and is valued at Sh200 million.

Meanwhile, between July 1, 2018 and May 20, 2019, the commission instituted 22 recovery suits involving unexplained cash deposits and immovable property worth Sh4.1 billion.

The EACC had also sought for injunctions in 17 matters whose combined value stood at Sh3.8 billion.