Kidero gets order to stop bank account search by the EACC

Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero and his wife, Susan Mboya, have got court orders stopping the anti-graft watchdog from investigating their bank account held at the Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA).

Justice Joseph Onguto Tuesday issued an order barring the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) from investigating bank account held by Mr Kidero and Ms Mboya.

The couple claimed that anti-graft detectives tricked a magistrate into issuing a warrant for investigation of their account.

They allege that EACC detectives illegally pulled out documents from a court file at the Chief Magistrate’s court registry before lying in a fresh application for an investigation warrant two days later.

The couple says EACC sleuth Mulki Umar removed crucial documents from her failed application for an investigation warrant on February 22, two days before her colleague Dennis Mare allegedly filed a new but perjured application before the Chief Magistrate’s Court to probe their account.

Mr Mare’s application was successful but has been temporarily put on ice until the High Court petition filed by Mr Kidero and Ms Mboya is heard and determined.

“When it became apparent that the magistrate had declined to issue the orders sought, the said inspector Mulki Umar carted away the application that had been declined and its supporting affidavit. In the second application, the EACC did not disclose to the court that it had made a similar application which had been denied,” say Mr Kidero and Ms Mboya.

READ: Evans Kidero fights to stop Sh1bn accounts freeze

The couple has enjoined the Chief Magistrate’s Court, Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko and Attorney-General Githu Muigai.

They hold that they were not afforded an opportunity to respond to the application for the warrants before the Chief Magistrate’s Court as required by law.

Justice Onguto has ordered the parties to appear before him on March 15 for a hearing.

Mr Kidero says in court papers that he is aware that the EACC is investigating him over the loss of billions of shillings from troubled Mumias Sugar Company, but he insists that he has not been informed of the reason for the planned probe of his bank account.

Ms Mboya on her part holds that she has always kept herself at arm’s length of her husband’s career hence there are no grounds for seeking to probe her deposits at CBA.

“I am not a public servant and as such I should not be subjected to inquiries related to public funds without a specific reference or justifiable reason,” Ms Mboya adds.