The Kenyan government, through the Asset Recovery Agency (ARA) has made a major breakthrough in recovering part of the money that was lost through infamous NYS suspect Josephine Kabura.
This is after the High Court allowed the ARA to seize close to Ksh100 Million which is part of the amount lost during the National Youth Service (NYS) Ksh 791 million scandals.
Judge Mumbi Ngugi of the Anti-Corruption Court on Thursday, February 25 ordered Charity Wangui Gethi and Samwel Mdanyi Wachenje to surrender the money to the government.
The judge noted that the two who were implicated in the NYS saga were holding the amount in question on different accounts and it was part of the funds that were transferred into Josephine Kabura's accounts from NYS.
"In the present case, I have found that the agency has established on a balance of probabilities that Ksh87,000,000 in the 1st respondent’s account (Charity) and Ksh10,000,000 in 2nd respondents account (Wachenje) was part of funds fraudulently transferred from NYS and into Josephine Kabura Irungu’s entities’ accounts.”
Mumbi also noted that Charity's explanation about the source of the huge monies in her account did not satisfy the court.
“I have found that her explanation to the source of her funds is not tenable and leaves the court with only one conclusion that the money was stolen from NYS. Issuance on the order for forfeiture is therefore not a violation of her rights,” ruled Ngugi.
The Asset Recovery Agency had filled an application telling the court that the funds were part of the NYS saga.
Charity is the mother of Ben Gethi whom the DPP believes helped in planning the first NYS scandal in which traders were paid over Ksh791 million but supplied nothing.
The judge said the court was still working on cases involving other suspects and it would issue a forfeit order as soon as the case is completed.
The development came even as the current Auditor General Nancy Gathungu on February 15 indicated that there was a fresh case of misuse and misappropriation of funds at the NYS.
The report showed that there were tires worth Ksh255 million lying at the NYS with no record of them being there.
“Under the circumstances, the inventory belonging to the fund had not been included in the total inventory value as of June 30, 2019, and hence the stock value in the financial statement is underrated and inaccurate,” the report read in part.
The Auditor General has continued to raise concerns over the misuse of public funds and ending spending of funds that cannot be accounted for.
