Economy

EACC turns to accounts to smoke out graft suspects

kid

Former Nairobi governor Evans Kidero. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Bank transactions emerged as the new weapon of netting corruption suspects with a good share of them at pains to explain the source of their wealth.

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) increasingly turned to bank statements to reveal gaps between the suspects’ earnings and flow of funds to their bank accounts.

Former Nairobi governor Evans Kidero was top in the list of persons who have been fighting to clear their names over what the EACC calls the mismatch between their pay and wealth.

Others are the wife of a Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) employee, former City Hall accountant Stephen Osiro and former City Hall Chief Finance Officer Jimmy Mutuku Kiamba.

Deputy Chief justice Philomena Mwilu was charged on suspicion of corruption, failure to pay taxes and improper dealings with Imperial Bank, which are at centre of investigations.

The State has seized some of the assets and is pushing courts to allow the transfer of the wealth to the public.

“Tracking down of flow of funds through banks has made the work of graft investigators easier and it’s bearing fruits. We are seeing assets seizures,” said an EACC lawyer.

The State took Sh19.6 million in three bank accounts belonging to the wife of KRA employee after the High Court ruled that the cash is proceeds of crime.

The accounts belong to Pamela Abbo and court documents show she was unable to prove legitimate source of the millions, which were believed to have come from her husband — Alex Mukhwana Khisa.

She claimed the huge cash deposits were income from a transport, cereals trading and sugar businesses, but was unable to offer evidence of their dealings and tax payments.

This made it second high- profile transfer of assets from individuals following court actions that ruled the properties were linked to fraudulent dealings.

In September, the State took ownership of a Sh48.5 million luxury five-bedroom apartment in Lavington, Nairobi, bought with funds stolen from the Youth Enterprise Development Fund.

Dr Kidero is also being asked to explain how he acquired Sh9 billion properties including hundreds of millions in bank accounts with the EACC saying his earnings over his working life are not even five percent of his worth.

Mr Osiro is also fighting to hold on to a fortune worth nearly Sh500,000 that includes properties, Sh213.3 million spread across six banks accounts and luxury cars.

The EACC reckons that the cash is proceeds of crime, arguing that it was impossible to acquire assets worth Sh329.9 million over the 60 months to April 2016 when he earned Sh109, 375 average monthly pay.

Mr Osiro has also been cited in court to have deposited millions of shillings into accounts of his former boss Jimmy Kiamba who is also accused of stashing Sh1.3 billion believe

d to be proceeds of crime.

EACC said the Sh1.3 billion deposits could not be built by man whose net income over the 55 months was Sh5.8 million or an average monthly pay of Sh105,454 and servicing loans amounting to Sh180.7 million.