High Court judge Hedwig Ong’undi also allowed the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) to recover Sh8.8 million held in an account belonging to a businessman.
Most of the Sh180 million stolen from the youth fund was used to purchase luxury homes, pay debts and line the pockets of powerful individuals, law firms and companies.
The State has managed to recover just a third of the Sh180 million stolen from the Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF) after it took ownership of a Sh48.5 million luxury five-bedroom apartment in Lavington, Nairobi.
High Court judge Hedwig Ong’undi also allowed the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) to recover Sh8.8 million held in an account belonging to a businessman.
Most of the Sh180 million stolen from the youth fund was used to purchase luxury homes, pay debts and line the pockets of powerful individuals, law firms and companies.
So far, the State has been unable to recover millions of shillings paid to a string of people including former YEDF chairman Bruce Odhiambo and foreign companies in the illicit movement of cash that entangled top banks like Standard Chartered, Co-operative, Barclays and Chase Bank.
Businessman Mukuria Ngamau, for instance, used his company Quorandum Limited’s Chase Bank account to receive money from the youth fund and make several transactions with third parties, including the purchase of the duplex apartment in Lavington.
“An order of forfeiture is hereby issued against property known as Duplex apartment number C16 situated on LR No.209/5990/13 grant number 18295/9 and Sh8.8 million to the Assets Recovery Agency,” said Justice Ong’undi in a ruling delivered Friday.
The youth fund paid Quorandrum Sh180 million for information technology services, which it did not provide.
Mr Ngamau made several cash withdrawals from the funds wired to his account by the youth fund and transferred the money to personal accounts of persons closely related to him, including his spouse Doreen Waithera Ng’ang’a and Ms Tabitha Wanjiku Ngamau, his mother.
Quorandum paid Sh8.7 million to a businessman’s account at Barclays Bank of Kenya Limited, which has since been recovered.
Mr Ngamau also paid Sh9.24 million to Britcom International, a UK-based company, for the purchase of an excavator/grader, but there was no evidence to show the machine was delivered.
He also transferred Sh4.5 million to Rock Plant Limited for an undisclosed purpose, Sh2.24 million to Dilshad Mohammed for an undisclosed purpose, Sh880,000 to Mr Yogesh Kumar Bardwaj for an undisclosed purpose and Sh1 million to Simis Engineering and Construction Company Limited for an undisclosed purpose.
Quorandrum transferred Sh3.3 million to Mr Odhiambo’s account at Co-operative Bank, purportedly for payments of consultancy services. The cash trail was contained in a report tabled in Parliament.
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Editor's note: This story has been updated to remove the name of Ezekiel Owuor after no charges were brought against him.
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