Government tenders have been a honey pot and many are those who are lured by what big money can get them — high-end cars, mansions in gated communities, access to elite society, and more.
However, those who have been caught with their hands in the jar have had it rough. Their assets are frozen and they are left fighting to regain their lost status.
National Youth Service (NYS) graft scandal suspect James Thuita could by far be referred to as a billionaire. At one point, he had Sh1.1 billion in his accounts. By the time Asset Recovery Agency (ARA) was going for him, the account held Sh35 million.
With a stroke of a pen, all his money was gone, rendering him a poor billionaire. Thuita has more problems to grapple with. He is paying the government costs of the fresh application he had filed which was dismissed on Friday, while at the same time, sustaining his legal team.
Swimming in money
By the time the country heard of salons Josephine Kabura, she was literally swimming in money. Kabura was said to have carted money away in sacks. By the time State agencies were done with her, she had nothing. She is now fighting for her freedom in the courts.
Thuita and Kabura are not alone in this battle against a government hell-bent to recover stolen wealth.
There are other NYS suspects who did not even bother to defend themselves in the Sh39 million suit filed by ARA. They simply surrendered their wealth. Maybe they had no proof to show how they enriched themselves.
Recently, Anti-Corruption Court judge Mumbi Ngugi ordered former NYS finance director Samuel Wachenje alias Samuel Mwadime, his wife Susan Mkiwa Mdanyi, John Vandame, and the alleged mastermind Ben Gethi’s kin Anthony Kihara Gethi and Charity Wangui Gethi to surrender their high-end vehicles, land, and a maisonette to the government.
The judge also issued orders against John Ndung’u, Paul Gachoka, and James Kisingo.
The Muthoni Kimani-led agency filed the case in 2016. For four years, the court invited the eight to give their side of the story but they never appeared, a pointer they had no plausible explanation as to how they became instant millionaires.
In total, the judge allowed ARA to seize from the eight suspects properties valued at Sh39 million after finding out that they were acquired using stolen NYS money.
The agency will now sell three Toyota Prado vehicles, a plot in Juja East and a maisonette in Kasarani to recover the stolen money.
The judge also heard that on June 5, 2015, Kirinyaga Governor Ann Waiguru, who was then Cabinet Secretary Ministry of Devolution and Planning wrote to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) complaining that Sh800 million from NYS had been siphoned.
DCI swung into action and found that at least Sh791 million had been stolen, with Kabura being at the heart of the scam.
Bank collusion
According to court records, three companies — Form Home Builders, Roof, and All Trading and Reinforced Concrete Trading — received Sh281 million, Sh252 million, and Sh320 million respectively from NYS. All these companies belonged to Kabura.
Kabura is said to have sent another accomplice, John Kago, some Sh381 million. This was done in collusion with Gethi, and the staff of the Family Bank KTDA Plaza branch.
The maisonette situated in Kasarani, the court was told, belonged to Mwandime. He had bought it for Sh21,856,000. He drew his wife Mkiwa into the matter after he registered the house under her name. Mwadime had been arraigned in the magistrate’s court alongside Gethi for the loss of the NYS monies.
Kabura deposited Sh40 million in Mwandime’s bank account at Family Bank Kagwe Branch. Mwandime then bought a house from one Tirus Kamau and his wife Esther Nthenya for Sh21 million.
Mwadime is also said to have bought a parcel of land in Juja worth about Sh4 million from Cyrus Ngugi Mugonya. He then bought a car for Sh3.3 million and later changed ownership to a Kisingo.
The first car, a Toyota Prado registration KCE 852 T worth Sh5.25 million was allegedly bought by Kihara. It was registered under Gethi’s point man, John Kago. It changed its ownership to Paul Gachoka while investigations were going on.
The second car, also a Prado registration KCD 536 worth Sh5,070,000 was also bought by Kihara through Kago. Its ownership was later transferred to Vandame.
It emerged that Gachoka and Vandame never paid anything for the cars under their names.
Some 12 years ago, Mombo Amuti was the first person to suffer the wrath of the law for enriching himself illegally.
He fought to the Supreme Court to stop an auction to recover Sh41 million that he siphoned from the government but his efforts were futile.
Amuti, a former National Water Conservation, and Pipeline Corporation finance manager, spent Sh41 million in 10 months to spruce up his lifestyle. He however could not explain where he got the money from.
Frozen accounts
The Supreme Court struck out his case. He has now lost properties including houses he bought in Komarock Estate. Amuti’s case, filed by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, set the benchmark for State agencies to go after graft lords. He was the first person to be found with unexplained wealth.
Former Principal Secretary Lilian Omollo also knows the pain of losing millions in a day. She, too, was found to have acquired her wealth illegally. She was ordered to surrender Sh33.6 million to the State.
The money was in 10 accounts under her three daughters’ names. Justice Ngugi said the family failed to show a legitimate source of the funds.
The ex-PS had claimed the funds were earned from produce reaped in a farm owned by a company, Sahara consultants, and her husband Dick Achieng.
Although businessman Jared Otieno’s case is not part of government wheeler-dealing, he lost his Bentley car over illegally acquired wealth. Gone are the days he would have massages from the driver’s seat.
He paid Sh47 million for the 2018 Bentley Continental GT that was seized. He cannot also drive his other car, an Sh30 million Porsche as the State wants it also.
There are others who have money but their accounts are frozen. Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko is an example. Sonko’s accounts are said to have received at least Sh500 million in illicit wealth. They are frozen.
Sonko told the court that as he cannot provide his family with a decent meal since ARA went after his accounts. Phyllis Njeri Ngirita, a member of the Ngirita family, shed tears after things went south. She can no longer afford to take her son to high-end schools that charge Sh726,600 per term.
Her brother Jeremiah Gichini Ngirita and their mother Lucy Wambui Ngitira are also said to have received Sh361 million from NYS between November 2015 and April 2018.
By the time government agencies went after them, they had properties worth less than Sh100 million and undisclosed cash in a bank account.
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