A suspended minister in the Machakos County Government has acquired wealth worth in excess of half a billion shillings, in yet another web of corruption involving a public officer and his relatives. Investigations by the anti-corruption watchdog have revealed that between January 2014 and July 2021, Mr Urbanus Wambua Musyoka amassed wealth worth Sh531.3 million, more than 33 times what he should have accumulated.
According to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), since Mr Musyoka’s only known legitimate source of income was his monthly salary, his net worth should not have exceeded Sh16.2 million during the period.
He was the County Executive Committee (CEC) member for Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperative Development in the devolved unit that is led by Governor Alfred Mutua.
“Mr Musyoka indeed amassed wealth that was not commensurate with his known sources of income. Investigations revealed that he received substantial successive cash deposits in his various bank accounts, (for) which he could not satisfactorily demonstrate the source,” says the EACC in the court papers.
The commission suspects that the money is bribes and proceeds of crime that Mr Musyoka received by virtue of his employment at the county government. EACC has since obtained court orders to temporarily freeze Sh11.5 million and two motor vehicles belonging to Mr Musyoka. The court also barred him from dealing with a residential house and a piece of land in Machakos.
In the case that is pending at the High Court in Milimani, the commission is seeking to recover assets worth a cumulative sum of Sh637 million suspected to be proceeds of crime and unexplained wealth owned by Mr Musyoka and his associates.
EACC says Mr Musyoka acquired the money after influencing award of various lucrative tenders to companies associated with him, and used the proceeds to put up a residential building in Kibauni/Kamuthwa, in a remote part of Machakos. The building is incomplete.
Mr Musyoka served in various capacities in the county government since its establishment in 2013, including being the chairman of the standing tender committee.
Throughout his employment at the county government, he participated in the award of several tenders to four companies associated with him. The companies are listed as Wisdom Holdings Ltd, Wafih International Ltd, Kikoto General Merchants Ltd and Wemmar Enterprises Ltd.
“He used his position to influence the award of tenders to the companies in complete disregard of the provisions of the Public Procurement and Disposal Act. He exercised substantial controlling interest over the financial activities of the companies, thus the ultimate beneficial owner of said companies,” says the EACC.
The EACC says the directors of the companies include relatives of Mr Musyoka. The commission says Mr Musyoka’s wife, Ms Fiona Muthoki Mutisya, is a director and shareholder of Wafih International Ltd and Wisdom Holdings Ltd. His brother Antony Mbindyo Musyoka is a director and shareholder of the Wafih International Ltd, Wisdom Holdings Ltd and Kikoto General Merchants Ltd.
Other defendants in the recovery suit are Mr John Kiio Maundu (director and shareholder of Wemmar Enterprises Ltd), Ms Magdalene Wanza Kiio (a director and shareholder of Wemmar Enterprises) and Ms Sharon Ngina Kiko (director and shareholder of Kikoto General Merchants Ltd).
Mr John Kiio Maundu and Ms Magdalene Wanza Kiio, are husband and wife, says the EACC.
The directors told the EACC that they were not aware of how the questionable financial transactions were executed. They indicated that they had introduced Mr Musyoka as a signatory to the bank account and he did all the transactions. They therefore could not give an explanation because they could not produce any supporting documents, they said.
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