Phylis Njeri Ngirita, who is a suspect in the NYS scandal case, on Thursday, January 23, wept at Milimani Law Courts after the court failed to lift an order freezing all her bank accounts, claiming that lack of funds had led to her son dropping out of school.
In a story by K24 Digital, the court ordered Ngirita to wait for another 17 days before knowing whether she will be allowed to withdraw Ksh 800,000 from her frozen bank account or not.
Through her lawyer, Evans Ondieki, Njeri had applied to be permitted to withdraw the amount, indicating that it was necessary for paying her son’s school fees.
The suspect also claimed that she owes her son’s school, Pembroke House School in Gilgil, up to Ksh3.4 million in unpaid fees, therefore, keeping him out of class.
“I have been subjected to untold suffering since my KCB account in Gilgil was frozen in 2018,” complained Njeri.
“The (freezing) order has caused undue hardship to my family and paralysed the education of my children,” she added.
Njeri also claimed that her child continued to suffer in many ways, now missing classes for the last two terms.
“Even if am accused, my child is not part of the accusation and should not continue experiencing this suffering. I want the government to establish who stole the money because it wasn’t the Ngirita’s family.
“They claim that I stole Ksh9 billion but my account doesn’t have such amounts of money. How would I be having Ksh9 billion and fail to educate my own child? The court has ordered me to stay with the kid at home until February and the child has not been in school for the last two terms,” remarked Ngirita.
She also pointed at her co-accused in the scandal of stealing the money and leaving others to suffer in the litigation process as key suspects.
“Our family should not be suffering that they stole Ksh9 billion shillings while my child is suffering innocently.
“Some people just used others as sacrificial lambs in the NYS scandal. We are innocent and have always been innocent,” added Ngirita.
Phyllis Njeri Ngirita was charged alongside her sister, Anne Ngirita, and their mother, Lucy Ngirita, in May 2018 for alleged involvement in the loss of Ksh468 million in the NYS scandal.
The three were among others adversely mentioned in the scandal where they were accused of illegally obtaining the money and using it to acquire assets.
Through a court ruling, the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) obtained an order that froze bank accounts and property belonging to the Ngirita family, including vehicles and land.
High Court Justice Hedwig Ong'udi gave way for the orders after the agency a presented enough reasons to believe that the property in question was acquired through proceeds of crime and money obtained from NYS.
