A 21-year-old university student who was caught with Ksh102 million was hard-pressed to explain the source of the money after the government flagged her account.
The Nairobi Technical Training Institute student revealed that her Belgian boyfriend gifted her the Ksh102,654,024.
However, the explanation did not convince the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA), which in turn moved to court seeking orders to freeze the account until investigations are carried out conclusively.
ARA told the court that the money was wired suspiciously and that there was a need to establish whether the funds were proceeds of unlawful activities. The agency told the court that the account was opened on August 2, 2021, and the money was wired two days later.
“There are reasonable grounds to believe that the funds held in the account in the name of the respondent, are illicit funds in which the respondent is involved in a money-laundering scheme designed to conceal and disguise the nature, source location and movement of the funds,” the ARA stated in court documents.
“Unless this honourable court grants the orders sought, the respondent will continue to enjoy the benefits derived from proceeds of crime.”
According to the agency, preliminary investigations showed that the account held no cash before the suspicious transactions were made.
The first deposit of Ksh25,803,756 was made on August 4, 2021. A second deposit of Ksh25,803,756 was made on August 5 with the third and fourth deposits coming in on August 6 but as separate transactions of Ksh25,242,756 and Ksh25,579,356.
When the account was flagged, the ARA issued a summon to the student on October 18, 2021, but her lawyers wrote back a day later stating that the summon was vague and had no legal grounds.
“In the letter, the legal representative making reference to the summons dated 18 October 2021 sought for better and proper particulars of the alleged offence with regards to what information you wish to acquire from our client,” the ARA stated in court documents.
“It further stated, the summons issued by yourself are vague in nature as we would like a further explanation so as to advise her on what documentation she needs to bring with her," the agency continued.
ARA further told the court that the student's lawyers later informed the agency that she had left the country in October but could not inform when she would jet back.
