Former Youth Affairs Principal Secretary Lilian Mbogo-Omollo on Wednesday accused the Assets Recovery Agency of lying to the court about her agribusiness venture.
Informing the court in the ongoing case on the National Youth Service (NYS) scandal, Omollo stated that the agency lied to the court that she does not have an agribusiness in Uyoma, Siaya County.
According to her, the allegations are plainly and maliciously untrue, mischievous and intended to misguide the court.
In court papers, Ms Lilian noted: “The court itself also risks acting unjustly, unfairly, and capriciously and on mere assumptions should it proceed to make any order of forfeiture without endeavoring to conduct a site visit to ascertain for itself and among its own objective findings.”
She further noted that in the interest of justice, the court can order for a site visit of the agribusiness to make its own independent findings on the production state and its income-generating capacity.
Additionally, the former PS mentioned that all the monies in the various bank accounts are legitimate and their sources accounted for.
Initially, the Assets Recovery Agency had filed an application seeking funds in her accounts transferred to the government, dismissing claims that they are proceeds of her farming business.
The agency, in court papers, termed the claim as “incorrect, deceitful and a ploy to disguise and hide the source of the said funds”, adding that it was a classical scheme of money laundering.
According to the agency, their team which had traveled to Uyoma in Rarieda, Siaya County, to the home of the late Ramogi Achieng Oneko, who is Lilian’s father-in-law, and established that there was no farm in existence as she had alleged.
“At the site we met one Nam Oneko, the brother-in-law of Lilian Mbogo, who informed us that the land belonged to the family of the late Achieng Oneko and is yet to be divided among family members. We further established that there are no farming activities going on the land as alleged by Lilian,” read court papers.
The investigators also stated that most receipts produced by Lilian fall outside 2016, 2017 and 2018 when funds were stolen from the National Youth Service (NYS) coffers.
They further stated that there was sufficient evidence that the funds in the ex-PS’ accounts are proceeds of crime, adding that she has not provided any evidence indicating its legitimate sources hence liable for confiscation under the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act.
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