City Hall graft: Jimmy Kiamba ordered to pay Sh317m
Former chief finance officer at City Hall Jimmy Kiamba. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDUA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Justice Ong’udi ruled that the EACC had established that Mr Kiamba’s six cash deposits totalling Sh317,648,604 constitute unexplained assets.
Mr Kiamba, who served during Governor Evans Kidero’s administration, had explained that the deposits were from revenue derived from sale of cattle, farming wheat and maize, a transport and quarry business and sale of some property.
Former City Hall Chief Finance Officer Jimmy Kiamba was dealt a blow Wednesday when a court ordered him to pay the government Sh282 million.
Justice Hedwig Ong’udi also ordered Mr Kiamba to pay an additional Sh35 million to the government, failure to which he will forfeit his house in Runda Water Estate, Nairobi.
UNEXPLAINED ASSETS
“The sum of Sh282,648,604 be paid to the government of Kenya by the 1st defendant,” the judge ruled.
Justice Ong’udi ruled that the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) had established that Mr Kiamba’s six cash deposits totalling Sh317,648,604 constitute unexplained assets.
Mr Kiamba, who served during Governor Evans Kidero’s administration, had explained that the deposits were from revenue derived from sale of cattle, farming wheat and maize, a transport and quarry business and sale of some property.
The judge, however, said that it was impossible to know how much had been injected in the transport business and therefore the house, which he allegedly bought at Sh35 million, fell under the category of unexplained assets.
Through Philip Kagucia, EACC said it investigated Mr Kiamba’s 11 accounts in eight banks.
The anti-graft body obtained bank statements for the accounts and compared the amounts deposited and his salary. The commission also noted huge inter-account transfers.
The EACC suspected that Mr Kiamba stole public funds from City Hall after depositing more than Sh400 million between January and November 2014 despite earning a monthly salary of Sh85,000 as City Hall CFO. Between August 2009 and February 2015 his net salary was Sh5.8 million while rental flats in Athi River fetched him Sh2.7 million monthly. Evidence showed that he used several people at City Hall to make deposits in his accounts including Joseph Njoroge, his driver.
Mr Njoroge made total deposits of Sh66.8 million, while former head of treasury at City Hall Stephen Osiro made total deposits of Sh4.1 million.
The court said that Mr Kiamba had satisfactorily explained how he had obtained some of his property, among them a house on Naivasha Avenue and another in Muthaiga, Nairobi.
