EACC Goes After Nairobi County Employee With 10 Cars on Ksh21K Salary

Office of the County Governor, Nairobi County.
Office of the County Governor, Nairobi County.
Kenyans.co.ke

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) moved to court to have assets belonging to a Nairobi County employee frozen.

According to documents filed in court, the anti-graft agency urged the court to crack the whip on the employee whom they suspect of amassing wealth through dubious means.

The High court on Thursday, August 25, directed that a parcel of land, 11 cars and 3 motorcycles belonging to a procurement officer are frozen.

In the court documents, EACC stated that the suspect earns a salary of Ksh21,000. The detectives probed his income between January 2014 to June 2022, where they found that he earned a net salary amounting to Ksh2.1 million.

The office of Nairobi Governor at City Hall, Nairobi on Tuesday, July 28, 2020
The office of Nairobi Governor at City Hall, Nairobi on Tuesday, July 28, 2020
The Standard

EACC argued that there was a huge disparity between the assets and his known sources of income.

Justice Daniel Ogembo issued the orders after the EACC claimed that the employee had been using one of his businesses to hide proceeds of graft. 

In court documents, the EACC stated that the suspect benefited from Ksh40 million kickbacks from entities awarded tenders by the Nairobi county.

The pieces of land are situated in Siaya, Kisumu and Nairobi counties. The employee of Nairobi county is also the owner of the high-end three-star hotels.  

"Investigations established that the suspect received over Ksh40 million as bribes from companies trading with the county government," the documents read.

The anti-graft agency argued that they suspect the assets were proceeds of graft and pleaded with the court to freeze them for 6 months pending the conclusion of their investigations.

The anti-graft agency has been fighting corruption closely with the Assets Recovery Authority (ARA) to recover properties and money embezzled by public servants.

Earlier this month, detectives attached to the EACC moved to court to compel a senior government official and his son to forfeit the Ksh223 million wealth they allegedly acquired illegally.

In June, the EACC had also moved to court seeking orders to freeze property valued at Ksh1.2 billion belonging to a Ministry of Lands employee.

In a statement dated, Friday, June 17, EACC stated that the amount of property the land's official had acquired over the years did not match his salary and other sources of income.

The anti-graft agency wanted to recover vehicles, cash money, and other property owned by the Lands official.

"EACC has moved to court to compel the employee of the Ministry of Lands to forfeit to the state unexplained Ksh1,206,851,274 wealth comprising properties, vehicles, and cash that is not commensurate to his known and legitimate income sources.

"He is believed to have accumulated the unexplained Ksh1,206,851,274 between January 2003 and November 2018 (period of interest) against his known legitimate source of income namely Salary and allowances amounting to Kshs6,367,644 for the entire period," the EACC statement read.

EACC center, Nairobi
A photo of the EACC headquarters, at Integrity House in Nairobi.
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EACC
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