SUMMARY
- A senior official at a public roads agency who is alleged to have stashed Sh500million in 22 bank accounts.
- In a response filed before the High Court Wednesday, Benson Musila Muteti says claims by EACC are vague and generalities, which has not been supported by evidence.
A senior official at a public roads agency who is alleged to have stashed Sh500million in 22 bank accounts, has fought off claims that he built his empire from kickbacks and bribes from road contractors.
In a response filed before the High Court Wednesday, Benson Musila Muteti says claims by Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) are vague and generalities, which has not been supported by evidence.
The Coast regional manager of Kenya Rural Roads Agency (KeRRA) says EACC has not tabled evidence from an individual, contractor, or company, which he is alleged to have received bribes or kickbacks to award them contracts.
“That EACC has not in its pleadings filed in court, identified even as single contractor, individual and or company, who I allegedly demanded from and or received bribes and kickbacks and has not filed any statement recorded from the purported complainants,” Mr Muteti said in an affidavit filed in court.
Other than the money in four banks, EACC has applied to seize 27 properties, shares in multiple companies, and schools linked to Mr Muteti, his spouse Zipporah Mwongeli and their companies, saying they are part of unexplained wealth worth Sh952.3 million.
EACC initially targeted more than Sh1.03 billion but Mr Musila satisfactorily explained properties with a cumulative value of Sh78.7 million.
Yesterday, Mr Muteti through lawyer Migos Ogamba tabled documents before the anti-corruption court saying they prove that all financial transactions of the schools and his businesses are legitimate.
He said he does not understand what is not satisfactory since EACC has not pointed to the inadequacies in the responses he gave to the commission, before filing the case.
According to Mr Muteti, the case is filed out of malice and it is clear that EACC did not receive any complaint of alleged corrupt conduct and that the commission had appeared to downplay his income and earnings and has chosen to ignore facts he tabled to justify his wealth.
The public servant amassed the wealth between February 2009 and December 2018 where his pay, according to court documents, would have totalled to Sh136 million for the 119 months.
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