Justice Esther Maina gave the anti-graft agency the nod to collect monthly rent from tenants of residential houses and commercial buildings in Machakos that belong to Charles Muia Mutiso, the Treasury’s deputy director of external resources.
The EACC will collect the rent pending a court determination of a case where the State is seeking to have Mr Mutiso forfeit the properties.
The agency says Mr Mutiso amassed a Sh96.6 million wealth, including cars, parcels of land and millions in bank accounts, in the five years to April 2020, that did not match his monthly salary of Sh144,000.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has been allowed to seize monthly rent for houses and office blocks belonging to a senior Treasury official accused of accumulating unexplained wealth worth millions of shillings.
Justice Esther Maina gave the anti-graft agency the nod to collect monthly rent from tenants of residential houses and commercial buildings in Machakos that belong to Charles Muia Mutiso, the Treasury’s deputy director of external resources.
The EACC will collect the rent pending a court determination of a case where the State is seeking to have Mr Mutiso forfeit the properties.
The agency says Mr Mutiso amassed a Sh96.6 million wealth, including cars, parcels of land and millions in bank accounts, in the five years to April 2020, that did not match his monthly salary of Sh144,000.
Mr Mutiso, who is currently on suspension on half-pay, was also ordered to surrender a vehicle and its logbook, which the EACC suspects to be proceeds of crime.
The EACC has frozen more than Sh36 million held in four bank accounts in Cooperative Bank, Absa and KCB, suspected to have been acquired illegitimately.
The court barred the senior Treasury official from selling, transferring or leasing the properties and withdrawing the money, pending the determination of EACC’s case.
"It is my finding that indeed the applicant (EACC) stands to suffer irreparable loss should the properties or funds withdrawn as there will be nothing left to forfeit and recover in the event the suit succeeds," Justice Maina said.
The judge said the freezing of the properties and the seizure of the rent is to cushion the assets from wastage, damage or sale.
She said Mr Mutiso would get back the rent, millions frozen in bank accounts and the properties if the EACC fails to prove that they are proceeds of crime.
Mr Mutiso sought the unfreezing of the five banks accounts, saying he was suffering following his suspension.
He pleaded with the court saying he was ready to offer some of his properties worth Sh40 million as security to allow the unfreezing the accounts.
The accounts were frozen in July 2020 on allegations that he amassed wealth through misappropriation and embezzlement of public funds between April 2015 and April 2020.
But the judge said Mr Mutiso was a ‘man of means’ as there was evidence that he does farming and has an electronic shop, which earns him income.
Court filings show that the Treasury official earns a monthly salary of Sh144, 675 and net pay of Sh118, 691. This translated to a net salary and allowances of Sh12.8 million for a period of five years up to April 2020.
He had allegedly accumulated wealth totalling to Sh96.6 million over the period and the EACC established legitimate earnings worth Sh50 million, leaving an unexplained balance of Sh46 million.
Mr Mutiso is said to have received Sh7.5 million through M-Pesa and millions of shillings in cash deposits.
An analysis of his accounts revealed that there were large deposits made mostly through cash, cheques, electronic or fund transfers.
There were frequent deposits allegedly channelled into one of the accounts through ATM or the dropbox.
EACC reckons Mr Mutiso was dishonest in failing to declare his income to the Kenya Revenue Authority through the annual tax filings. The agency added that he underdeclared his assets to the State, putting him in breach of the Public Officer Ethics Act, 2003.
Public servants are required by law to reveal their incomes, bank deposits and assets such as land, buildings and vehicles once every two years.
The filing must also capture the wealth of their spouses and children below 18 years.
Civil servants risk a Sh1 million fine or a jail term of two years if they fail to declare their wealth and that of their spouses and children.
State workers who provide incomplete and inaccurate information in their declarations face similar punishment in a move meant to curb endemic graft in government.
