The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) on Friday, October 7, sought court orders to freeze assets worth Ksh88 million belonging to a former member of the Machakos County Executive Committee accused of embezzling funds from the county.
According to the EACC, the former county staff approved the payment of three tenders totalling Ksh88 million.
He was, however, unable to explain the source of wealth, including a posh home, motor vehicles and savings in his bank account.
"Despite the EACC notice requiring him to explain the disproportion between his assets and his known legitimate sources of income," the commission explained.
Some of the money, EACC stated, was not delivered to the county.
“He was the sole mandatory signatory of the bank accounts the companies used to trade with the county government," the anti-graft body stated.
The High Court issued an order allowing the EACC to freeze the ex-county official's wealth in a bid to recover the lost funds.
EACC had filed a recovery suit in May 2022 seeking to block him from transferring or selling his home, two motor vehicles and the money in his account.
This comes amid the heightened probe on former county officials who have been involved in graft.
In September 2022, the commission arrested three county officials in Tana River County over the irregular award of a borehole drilling tender.
EACC noted that it would charge the officials for willful failure to comply with the law in allotment of the Ksh3.6 million contract for the sinking of the boreholes in Mororo and Madogo towns.
Five senior officials in Isiolo are also under investigation after they were accused of embezzling over Ksh196 million. In Siaya County, EACC is investigating a case where ex-county officials stole over Ksh400 million.
