The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) wants a former senior employee of Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) compelled to forfeit property worth Sh278 million to the State because they were acquired through proceeds of crime.
EACC told the court that Jeremiah Kamau Kinyua resigned from KRA in March last year after looting through shady dealings for seven years when his net salary was Sh11.6 million.
The property under question is valued at Sh181 million and money in bank accounts and M-Pesa amounting to Sh91.6 million.
The anti-graft agency has its eyes on Kinyua’s 18 parcels of land and homes in Nairobi, Ruiru, Laikipia and Kitengela. EACC also wants to seize two vehicles valued at Sh10 million.
“Investigations revealed that the 1st Respondent received huge and successive cash deposits in his various bank accounts which he could not satisfactorily demonstrate the source and therefore the Commission reasonably suspects that the same were bribes,” the EACC said in the petition.
The Twalib Mbarak led commission initially targeted property valued at Sh359.5 million belonging to Kinyua and firms associated with him but his explanation on how he acquired the wealth satisfied the commission.
EACC sleuths raided his home early last year and seized more than Sh1 million in cash, Chinese currency and UAE Dirham, which will also be forfeited to the State.
Investigations have also revealed that Kinyua has registered some assets under his name and two companies — Cherya Enterprises Ltd and Bestline Enterprises Ltd.
He wired money amounting to Sh174 million through his accounts and M-pesa while Cherya Enterprises and Bestline received Sh18 million and 167 million, respectively.
EACC is also accusing Kinyua of abuse of office and unethical conduct. The suspicious ways in which the funds were transferred was meant to conceal their dirty sources.
Kinyua was employed at the KRA as a graduate trainee in January 2005 but was later promoted to a supervisor, domestic taxes department, where he worked until he resigned in March last year.
According to EACC, Kinyua’s net salary between 2012 and 2021 was Sh11.6 million but he miraculously managed to acquire the 19 parcels of land in Ruiru, Kiambu County, Laikipia and Nairobi.
He was receiving huge deposits to his bank accounts and through Mpesa that he could not satisfactorily explain their source.
“In the alternative, the commission is seeking through the suit that where the said assets have been wasted or otherwise unavailable for forfeiture, an order for payment of the assets’ equivalent in monetary value be made to the government,” EACC said.
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