Susan Wangari, the wife of former Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu, explained how they built their business empire, amassing wealth north of Ksh1.9 billion from scratch.
In her petition filed in court on Thursday, October 13, 2022, Wangari detailed that they started as small business owners before diversifying their investments.
The couple reportedly started by buying a lorry which they used to supply building materials in various parts of the country. By 1998, they had 10 lorries under their names.
Instead of saving the proceeds collected from their first business, they used the money to bankroll the establishment of other ventures before Waititu joined active politics.
Wangari further maintained that millions of savings in her different bank accounts were deposits from her business ventures at various intervals, which she withdrew and reinvested.
She thus dismissed allegations levelled against them by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), which accused them of stealing from the public coffers.
“It was malicious and scandalous for the commission to link my husband and I to unexplained wealth for political reasons and to imply that we received money unprocedurally and unlawfully from public institutions totalling Ksh1,937,709,376," she stated.
Wangari dispelled claims that she received Ksh246 million from Kiambu county when Waititu served as the governor. She also accused EACC of misleading the public regarding their wealth acquisition.
"The commission’s claims that I have Ksh276 million is a distortion of facts since they failed to take into consideration the debits and withdrawals from my accounts and by failing to state that the amount was not held in the account at any one given time," her petition read in part.
While castigating EACC for a political witch hunt, the former Kiambu county first lady expressed her readiness to table documents that account for their wealth.
Her statements came after EACC moved to court seeking orders to forfeit their properties, including Ksh805 million in different accounts, land and houses in Runda, Lucky Summer, Migaa Estate, Embakasi Ranching, Kayole and Thindigwa all valued at Ksh280 million.
EACC also sought to repossess five vehicles valued at Ksh14 million.
However, Waititu staged a legal battle while denying allegations of orchestrating public looting from Kiambu county government coffers during his reign.
"In 2011, we acquired 22 acres which we subdivided into 311 plots and sold. I had a lot of wealth even before I was elected Kabete MP, including petrol stations, hardware and beauty shops, landed properties and several fleets of transportation lorries," Waititu explained his petition.
On Thursday, October 6, 2022, the Office of the Director of the Public Prosecution (ODPP) stated that Waititu's Ksh588 million graft case would proceed contrary to reports alleging that it was dropped.
