President William Ruto, one of his predecessors Daniel arap Moi, Nyaribari Chache MP Zaheer Jhanda and a wing of Catholic nuns are among hundreds of individuals whose assets worth Sh31.5 billion have been forfeited to the State in the last six years on account of being acquired corruptly.
An analysis of annual reports by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) indicates that a number of suits filed for recovery of assets acquired corruptly have seen the agency net land, buildings, cars, cash and other properties which were either stolen from public institutions, or acquired using graft proceeds.
Among the hundreds of assets recovered is an 8.19-acre land in Uasin Gishu County, which was during the Moi-era earmarked for construction of houses for Eldoret Municipality staff.
In 2008, the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, predecessor to the EACC, discovered that the land had somehow been registered as private land, and subdivided into 13 plots of varying sizes.
Among the individuals who had been registered as plot owners were then Eldoret North MP William Samoei Ruto through his Somog Ltd, and former Eldoret mayor Josiah Magut through his Magut Agencies. The area is known as Elgon View.
In a case that would take years in the corridors of justice, the anti-graft agency sued the individuals who had been registered as the new owners, seeking to recover the public land. At the time, the 8.19-acre parcel was valued at Sh68 million.
The case dragged on to 2023 when the High Court in Eldoret found that the land was public property after dismissing arguments by the defendants that they had legally purchased their plots. Somog was initially owned by Dr Ruto and other individuals.
Dr Ruto had four years before the Eldoret land saga found himself in trouble over dealings of Somog Ltd over unlawful acquisition of Sh87.5 million from Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC).
The four companies associated with Dr Ruto were part of a larger group of entities that agreed to sell land illegally excised from Ngong Forest to KPC. Somog Ltd was paid Sh9.916 million for a 4.3-acre parcel.
Celtic Multisystems Ltd and Priority Ltd each received Sh28.9 million and were each to sell parcels of 12.56 acres to KPC.
Priority Ltd is the firm that sold another 1.7-acre land along Langata road to Weston Hotel, and which has been the subject of another long-running court battle with the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority which claims to have been robbed of the property.
In 2009 when the case was still proceeding and Dr Ruto was Agriculture minister, he appointed Ms Njue to the Coffee Development Fund, a parastatal under his docket. Dr Ruto was acquitted in April 2011 for lack of evidence.
One of the failures by the prosecution was to present Ms Njue as a witness to testify on whether the firms received money from KPC.
In Eldoret, the EACC eventually succeeded in reclaiming the 8.19-acre land, which is now to be handed over to Uasin Gishu County.
A report of the recovery after a long battle is contained in the EACC’s report of activities and accounts for the 2023/24 financial year, which the anti-graft agency released last Tuesday, January 28.
The 8.19-acre Elgon View land’s value has grown nearly six-fold, as the EACC’s report states that the property is now worth Sh399.1 million.
When former Interior CS Fred Matiang’i revealed in 2021 a list of properties that were guarded by police officers attached to Dr Ruto, who was then Deputy President, the Elgon View house was among those benefitting from State security.
The same EACC report revealed that Nyaribari Chache MP Zaheer Jhanda also forfeited a parcel of land in Kisii to the State, following a case by the EACC.
For former President Daniel arap Moi and one of his Cabinet ministers, Nicholas Biwott, a company they owned forfeited five parcels of land, also in Eldoret. The land hosts the Eldoret fire station and Administration Police camp.
The Judiciary also has a High Court, Children’s Court and Court of Appeal station on the same property. The EACC recovered the land in the 2018/19 financial year.
In the same financial year, the EACC recovered a house owned by the government which had been irregularly transferred to Justin Kimutai Sirma, who sold it to the Sisters of Notre Dame De Namur, a group of Catholic nuns.
The High Court dismissed petitions by the nuns after finding that the property was at all times owned by the Ministry of Housing hence was not available for allocation to Mr Sirma.
The EACC reports show that some individuals have been repeat offenders, having their assets forfeited on multiple occasions.
Alex Buigut, is fighting off a recovery suit by the EACC, which seeks Sh72 million in unexplained assets that he acquired when serving as chief officer of transport and infrastructure at Nandi County.
An investigation revealed that Mr Buigut’s net worth in 2023 was Sh93.7 million, which did not match revenue from his known sources of income.
As the bureaucrat satisfactorily explained the source and acquisition of assets worth Sh21.6 million, the EACC demanded that he forfeit the balance to the State. The EACC filed a recovery suit in 2023.
In the 2022/23 financial year, the EACC recovered Sh682,400 from Mr Buigut, which had been acquired from Kisii County government.
The anti-graft watchdog also recovered Sh625,000 from him, which was acquired from the Bungoma County government.
Alongside Meshack Tankoi, Glova Ventures and others, Mr Buigut also forfeited Sh900,000 they got from the Nandi County government.
While still a sitting High Court judge, Said Chitembwe, who was sacked as a judge following a recommendation by a tribunal that probed him, also forfeited a piece of land to the State following the EACC’s efforts.
In the 2018/19 financial year he had to forego a piece of land in Chale Island in Kwale County, then valued at Sh20 million. He and several other individuals had acquired land grabbed from the Kenya Wildlife Service.
In one of the bizarre incidents, former Treasury internal auditor Esther Wangechi Ngeru had to forfeit Sh34 million that she received in allowances over a two-year period.
In total, Ms Ngeru had received Sh54.4 million in allowances in that period. The Sh34 million was released to her irregularly.
On average, Ms Ngeru was getting just over Sh1.94 million each month in allowances, more than 10 times her salary after deduction of taxes and statutory obligations.
On July 4, 2024 High Court judge Esther Maina gave the EACC the go-ahead to attach Sh8.5 million that was in Ms Ngeru’s bank account, and then pursue her for the Sh25.4 million balance.
In the two-year period, Ms Ngeru irregularly received Sh15.68 million in extraneous allowance, Sh14.78 million in facilitation allowance, Sh1.55 million in taskforce/committee allowance and Sh2.13 million in other undefined allowances.
The EACC has aggressively used recovery suits in its pursuit for a corruption-free State over the last six years.
The burden of proof is lower in civil cases than in criminal cases, making them a faster avenue for recovering assets stolen from the public.
In civil cases, one needs to prove their case on a balance of probabilities – giving the judge enough evidence to show that your version of events is more likely true than that of the opponent.
In criminal cases, one must prove their case beyond reasonable doubt, which demands more hard evidence.
The EACC has adopted a multifaceted approach, filing recovery suits to run concurrently with the criminal cases.
In the 2023/2024 financial year, the EACC closed 126 investigation files and forwarded them to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for further directions on criminal trial of those implicated in graft schemes.
In the same period, the EACC recovered assets worth Sh2.9 billion. In the same financial year, the agency filed 47 new court cases, aimed at recovering assets worth Sh9.2 billion, which it argues were acquired corruptly.
In total, the EACC is pursuing over 400 court cases through which it intends to recover assets worth Sh49.5 billion.
Last Tuesday, when launching the EACC’s annual report for the 2023/24 financial year, CEO Abdi Mohamud said that one of the biggest challenges in the fight against graft is lack of strong legal and policy framework for effective implementation of Chapter six of the Constitution.
Chapter six of the Constitution requires all state officers to work with integrity, and also establishes the EACC.
Mr Mohamud also held that many ministries, departments, agencies and county governments have not implemented suggested corruption prevention measures, which has provided a loophole for the looting of public funds and assets.
The EACC CEO said that his main focus, having recently been appointed to the corner office at Integrity Centre, will be to end graft at government service delivery points.
“There is a lot of bribery, especially at the service points within government. My focus is on addressing this to streamline services and ensure that Kenyans get the government services that they deserve since they act as gateways,” Mr Mohamud added.
The EACC CEO added that he intends to foster good rapport with justice system partners like the ODPP, to ensure a coordinated attempt to recover public assets and secure conviction of the corrupt.
