A Nairobi court has frozen assets belonging to a former Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) supervisor.
The assets valued at Sh192 million are believed to be proceeds of crime.
High Court Judge Esther Maina on Thursday barred Jeremiah Kamau Kinyua from selling, transferring or disposing of the properties which are located in Nairobi, Kiambu and Laikipia.
The affected properties include; a vehicle, twelve parcels of land located in Ruiru, Kiambu County, five plots in Githunguri, Kiambu County, a piece of land in Laikipia, another plot in Nairobi.
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This was following a suit from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) claiming that Mr Kamau acquired the properties fraudulently.
Justice Maina also prohibited Kamau, his wife Theresa Njeri and their two companies Cherya Enterprises Limited and Bestline Enterprises Limited from selling a motor vehicle worth Sh3.5 million.
“The respondents and their agents or any other person working through them are hereby prohibited from transferring of dealing in any way with the listed properties to enable the commission complete investigations and institute another suit to recover the assets,” ruled the judge.
The assets will remain frozen for a period of six months to give the anti-graft agency ample time to complete investigations and file the formal suit to recover the proceeds.
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According to papers filed by the EACC, Mr Kamau joined the taxman in 2005 as a graduate trainee before being named the compliance and enforcement officer.
In 2015, he was promoted to the position of supervisor, a position he held until his resignation in March 2021.
For the 15 years he worked with KRA, Mr Kamau apparently made at Sh120,000 per month while his wife took up farming.
Between 2012 and 2020, EACC said Mr Kamau acquired massive assets which were not proportional to his income hence raising alarm.
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“Our investigations found a huge disproportion between the value of Kinyua’s assets and his known legitimate source of income. We suspect that he engaged in corruption and economic crimes as a result of which he has unexplained assets totalling Sh192,020,582,” said EACC.
EACC’s lawyer Grace Maina told the court that for the seven years in question, Mr Kamau’s net salary and known sources of income totaled Sh11 million, an amount disproportionate to the accumulated wealth.
“Preliminary investigations have established that in just seven years between 2013 and 2020, he acquired the listed properties which we have every reason to belief were acquired through fraudulent and corrupt practices,” said Maina.
Back at the couple’s home, officers recovered Sh900,000, Chinese yuan 15,648 (Sh268,676) UAE dirham 435 (Sh13,109) and rand 100 (Sh744).
The monies are being held by the EACC pending completion of investigations.
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