Suspected drug dealer Joyce Akinyi risks losing Sh60 million to the state which investigators believe could be proceeds of crime.
Akinyi who shot to the limelight in 2013 due to marital squabbles with deported Nigerian spouse Anthony Chinedu, is said to have deposited the monies into her two accounts at Stanbic Bank.
The sums of money were deposited over a period of four years. The deposits were below Sh1 million to avoid catching the attention of the bank. The Central Bank of Kenya guidelines require an account holder to declare the source of money if the deposit is more than Sh1 million.
Asset Recovery Authority (ARA) investigators believe the accounts were used for suspicious activities, among them money laundering.
Court papers show that Akinyi deposited Sh20 million on November 10, 2015 in one of her Stanbic accounts. Eight days later, she withdrew Sh7.7 million before making another deposit of Sh67,395 on November 30. Deposits in that account amounted to Sh20,651,981, ARA says.
On separate dates between January 2015 and September 2018, the suspect deposited Sh47,360, 402 into the second account.
“Both accounts opened and operated by Akinyi received suspicious huge sums of cash and cheque deposits that indicate activities of money laundering,” ARA said in court documents.
According to the agency, the monies were from the trade of narcotics.
On Thursday, judge Mumbi Ngugi ordered Akinyi to surrender logbooks of her two motor vehicles – a Toyota Crown KCR 5217 and a Toyota DBA-KGC10 KCG 856G – believed to have been purchased with the proceeds of crime.
Judge Ngugi ordered that the cars are immediately taken to DCI headquarters along Kiambu Road.
In 2019, Akinyi was arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking. A search at her Deep West Resort on Lang’ata Road led to the discovery of 1,050 grammes of heroin.
Investigators also found an East African passport and Kenyan passport in Akinyi’s name, three Congolese passports in the name of Kambere Raha Eveline, Kjambura Marline and Kalla Paulin; a package containing a brownish powdery substance, a digital scale and Ugandan currency.
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