Former Nairobi County Finance Chief Officer Jimmy Kiamba on Thursday, May 23, lost multimillion properties and money in bank accounts after a ruling by the Supreme Court.
The apex court directed Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) officials to seize the money and property estimated to compound to more than Ksh200 million.
The officers reportedly harboured Ksh113.9 million in his bank accounts and owned seven multi-million properties.
The Commission filed a petition against Kiamba arguing that some of the properties in his possession were acquired illegally.
Kiamba was accused of spreading out the properties to his family members.
A five-bench judge consisting of Njoki Susanna Ndung'u, Smokin Wanjala, Isaac Lenaola, William Ouko and Mohamed Khadhar Ibrahim thew out an appeal the official had filed challenging a ruling by the Court of Appeal.
"The Notice of Motion dated 22nd February 2024 and filed on 4th March 2024, be and is hereby struck out," read the ruling in part.
The Court of Appeal had affirmed the High Court’s finding that Kiamba and his associates were in possession of unexplained wealth.
Welcoming the Supreme Court ruling, EACC, through its Spokesperson Eric Ngumbi, noted that it filed the recovery suit in the High Court after investigations established that Kiamba was in possession of wealth that was not commensurate to his known legitimate sources of income and as such, Kiamba could not reasonably have acquired such wealth otherwise than through corrupt conduct.
The Commission said that Kiamba failed to satisfactorily account for the disproportion in his wealth when EACC gave him the opportunity to do so, thus triggering the forfeiture proceedings.
Initially, EACC had listed 15 parcels of land, seven vehicles and the money in bank accounts. The total wealth was estimated at Ksh872 million.
The figure was, however, reduced to Ksh575 million and in a ruling by the Court of Appeal, Kiamba salvaged Ksh168.7 million wealth.
The officer had been accused of acquiring the property between 2009 and 2013.
