Integrity Centre that hosts Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) offices in Nairobi.
When Mr Michael Kuria, the former Nyandarua county government chief finance officer, was asked by the anti-corruption agency how he accumulated Sh329 million in wealth within two years against a net salary of Sh2.1 million, he cited family businesses such as selling purified water, inheritance and other investments.
But the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) did not believe him and the court also doubted his explanation. The High Court found the explanation untenable since the wealth was widely disproportional to his legitimate and known income.
Thus, a chunk of his wealth, including motor vehicles, parcels of land and cash in the bank, was declared unexplained assets and forfeited to the State.
He acquired massive wealth from the county government between March 2014, when he joined the county and June 2016, when he resigned, through contracts awarded to seven companies owned by his proxies, including family members and business associates.
His case is among several involving multi-millionaire public officers at county governments who are in court fighting to prove the legitimacy of their wealth amid accusations of turning the devolved units into cash cows.
A house belonging to former Nyandarua Finance and Economic Planning chief officer Michael Kamau Kuria. It was being targeted for recovery by EACC.
In the past 12 years, counties have become hotspots for corruption, where officials are using shell companies and proxies to siphon public funds.
The latest case involves a security warden at Turkana County government, Abenyo Amathwel Etiir, who has acquired wealth of Sh263 million in slightly over two years between November 2022 and September 2024.
Part of it, Sh180 million cash in bank has since been frozen by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) pending a recovery suit. The money was wired to his two trading companies Akimata Limited and Irina Health and Motor Vehicle Insurance Company Limited.
The monies are held in two fixed deposit bank accounts (Sh110 million and Sh70 million) at Equity Bank Lodwar branch in the name of Irina Health and Motor Vehicle Insurance Company Limited.
"It is reasonably suspected that the two companies are shell companies used as conduits for laundering the embezzled public funds by Senior County officials to disguise and give the funds a cloak of legitimacy," EACC detective Felix Asete says in court papers.
EACC believes Mr Etiir and the two trading entities are proxies of an unnamed senior officer in the county government.
Before the commission obtained court orders to freeze the accounts, the companies had received Sh263 million from Governor Jeremiah Lomorukai's administration.
It is not yet clear even to the corruption detectives what goods or services they supplied to the county government to warrant the payments.
Huge cash transfers
Mr Etiir is employed as a security warder by the county government and he is the sole proprietor of the companies as well as the sole signatory of the companies’ bank accounts.
"Preliminary investigations show that the two companies started receiving huge transfers of funds from the County Government of Turkana soon after their incorporation in 2022 raising suspicion that the companies could be conduits for laundering embezzled public funds for senior county officials," EACC lawyer Jacky Kibogy says in the court papers.
The companies were registered in November 2022. Between November 2022 and September 2024, the companies received a sum of Sh178.8 million (Akimata Limited) and Sh85 million (Irina Health and Motor Vehicle Insurance Company Limited). They subsequently transferred a sum of Sh180 million into the fixed accounts.
"Other than from the County Government of Turkana, the companies have not received any transfers from any entity, public or private, in the course of the two years," says EACC.
Mr Etiir is among eight senior officials of the County government and two businessmen arrested last week over allegations of embezzling Sh600 million public funds from the devolved unit.
The officials include the County Executive Committee Member for Finance Michael Eregae Ekidor, who EACC said was also found with Sh6.5 million in cash.
Various counties are facing serious corruption challenges, which have been exposed by court cases filed EACC and the Asset Recovery Agency (ARA), where officials are battling accusations of engaging in corruption, money laundering and economic crimes to acquire massive wealth. The forfeiture suits have unmasked depths of fraudulent dealings and silent millionaires looting county coffers.
A big share of the graft cases the EACC and the ARA are pursuing involve runaway corruption at the county level, where officials are using relatives and proxies to trade with their employers.
The rising cases come against the backdrop of EACC's concern that despite counties receiving in excess of Sh1.5 trillion since the inception of the devolution system in 2013, a big chunk of the funds has been lost through corruption.
In Nairobi, Mr Nashon Wilson Kanani, a wealthy employee of the city county government is at the Court of Appeal fighting with EACC over the legitimacy of his Sh643 million assets. He is a co-director of popular entertainment joint, Club 1824, on Lang'ata Road.
1824 Club on Langata Road in Nairobi in a picture taken on February 16, 2020. (Inset) Wilson Nashon Kanani.
The assets in question include high-end motor vehicles, money in 12 bank accounts, an apartment in Nairobi, a house in Busia County and land in Naivasha.
EACC is questioning how he multiplied his wealth to the excess of Sh643 million while his known income is a salary of Sh55,866. The commission is seeking forfeiture of Sh643 million to the government on grounds it is unexplained wealth.
He was sued alongside his wife Reginah Munyiva and trading entities Willy Walla International Limited, Wilcoreg Limited, Bridge Side Farm and Regineeze Enterprises Limited. EACC is pressing them to explain the sources of their wealth, comprising land, bank credits, MPESA transactions and cash received within the period from January 2016 to October 31, 2022.
"Those assets and funds have been acquired by Mr Kanani through corrupt activities- especially bribes and kickbacks. The wealth in question is far beyond the legitimate known formal income of Mr Kanani and his wife," EACC claimed.
EACC says that of the over a billion wealth owned by Mr Kanani in concert with his wife, the source of over Sh600 million remains unexplained.
It said the explanations and the evidence they provided failed to discount the cloud of doubt and suspicion over the manner in which that multi-million worth in bank deposits and the subject motor vehicles, as well as land parcels, were acquired.
The commission lost the forfeiture bid at the High Court but lodged an appeal, where the appellate court issued conservatory orders recently restraining Mr Kanani from disposing of suit properties pending determination of the appeal.
Apart from using the criminal law through the Director of Public Prosecutions, to combat economic crimes both EACC and ARA are using civil proceedings through forfeiture suits to recover assets obtained illicitly, under statutes like the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act and the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act.
For instance in Kisii, former Chief Officer for Fisheries, Livestock, and Veterinary Services Alphanus Osoro Mokaya whose wealth of Sh65 million attracted the attention of Assets Recovery Agency lost partly Sh17.8 million to the State in July last year.
Proceeds of crime
The sum was held at Stima Sacco Kisumu branch and was found to constitute proceeds of crime. He had claimed that the money was proceeds of sugarcane sales, livestock keeping and dog breeding.
"Claims for livestock keeping and dog breeding should also have some record to support a deposit or an entry in a bank account. Needless to state, also dog breeding is a professional business with documentation for the breeds. Nothing shows the money in the Stima Sacco account were proceeds of livestock or dog breed sales," said Justice Francis Gikonyo.
An analysis carried out by ARA on Mr Mokaya's account at Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) revealed that, between 2014 and 2021, he had received funds amounting to Sh65 million from the County Government of Kisii.
Out of this Sh595,196 were salary payments for the duration he was an employee of the county government. This was during the tenure of former governor James Ongwae.
The deposits into the Stima Sacco account were similar to the withdrawals from the KCB account.
Using legal mechanisms under the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act, ARA through it's investigator Alfred Musalia convinced court that Mr Mokaya was possessing tainted property and that he might have been engaging in money laundering and theft of public funds.
He was facing separate court proceedings where EACC was pursuing the funds held in his account based on allegations of kickbacks received from contractors, who were supplying goods to the county government.
In Machakos County, a former County Minister is at the Court of Appeal seeking to block EACC from recovering Sh91 million tainted wealth.
Mr Urbanus Wambua moved to the Court of Appeal to challenge a ruling that allowed the Anti-corruption Commission to seize the wealth, which is alleged to be tainted.
Urbanus Wambua Musyoka. He is being investigated by the anti-graft agency.
The targeted assets were acquired by Mr Wambua through awarding high-value tenders to his proxies and companies directly associated with his wife, brother and affiliates, the court papers indicate.
The High Court found that his assets were acquired through corruption when he served in the county government between January 2014 and July 2021 during the tenure of Governor Alfred Mutua, now a Cabinet Secretary.
Sh80.2 million
He was the County Executive Committee Member for Agriculture, Food and Cooperative Development. He was also Chairman of the Standing Tender Committee of the County Government of Machakos.
In the judgement dated October 28, 2024, the assets forfeited by court to EACC include a residential building in Kibauni/Kamuthwa valued at Sh80.2 million and Sh10.9 million in cash, transacted through his two accounts at Co-operative Bank and Equity Bank.
Trial judge Patrick Otieno ruled that Mr Wambua failed to offer a satisfactory explanation of the source of his wealth, especially the residential house and the cash in bank.
"Mr Wambua having admitted that the companies are ultimately owned by him and the fact that his companies were awarded tenders only and specifically during his tenure in itself raises reasonable suspicion that he had a hand, using his office, to have the tenders so awarded," said the trial judge.
In the recovery suit, Mr Wambua was sued alongside Fiona Muthoki, Anthony Musyoka, John Kiio, Magdaline Kiio and Sharon Kioko. They were described in court as his family members and close associates.
The other defendants were four trading entities listed as Wisdom Holdings Limited, Wifih International Ltd, Kikoto General Merchants and Wemmar Enterprises Ltd.
EACC filed the suit in May 2022, pursuing recovery of Sh457 million, which it alleged Mr Wambua received through uncompetitive tender processes which circumvented procurement laws. It said his known legitimate sources of income during the investigation period amounted to Sh16.2 million.
However, the court found only Sh91 million formed unexplained wealth.
In Nandi county, the commission is pursuing recovery of Sh72 million from former county government chief officer for transport and infrastructure, Mr Alex Buigut. He held the office between October 2014 and April 2018.
EACC said after analysing part of his assets valued at Sh93 million, a sum of Sh21.6 was found to have been satisfactorily explained leaving out an unexplained disproportion of Sh72 million.
The Commission's investigations established that during the period of interest, he took advantage of his position to influence the award of a tender in 2016 for the completion of Kipchoge Keino Stadium Kapsabet Phase 2 that was awarded to Kewah Constitution Ltd for Sh95.4 million.
An Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission detective escorts Nandi County Transport and Infrastructure Chief Officer Alex Buigut (hiding from cameras) to their offices in Eldoret town on May 19, 2017.
EACC claimed that it received a report that Mr Buigut accumulated assets whose value was disproportionate to his known legitimate source of wealth.
The investigation established that, during the period of interest in which he was suspected and found to have been engaging in corrupt conduct, he had accumulated wealth disproportionate to his legitimate sources of income to the tune of Sh93 million.
During a house search in May 2017, EACC detectives seized Sh5 million cash.
However, Mr Buigut said he was a farmer and previously worked with the National Irrigation Board. He said that his farming and business activities had tremendous success and he had acquired a lot of assets before joining the county government.
He stated that during his stint at the county government, he was never summoned to shed light, clarify or answer any questions.
He said he was shocked when his private office as well as his home in Langas Estate were simultaneously invaded by officers of EACC to conduct a search on the strength of warrants given by the Chief Magistrate’s Court in Eldoret.
jwangui@ke.nationmedia.com
