Kenya’s anti-graft agency, Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), plans to recover over Sh2 billion of unexplained wealth from public officers.
Some of the officials whose assets have been earmarked for recovery include Ex-Nairobi City County Finance Chief Officer Jimmy Kiama (Sh317 million), former Senior Assistance Accountant General at the Interior Ministry Thomas Njogu (Sh112 million), and former Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) Managing Director James Mulewa (Sh74.3 million).
Others are former National Water Conservation and Pipeline Corporation Finance Manager Stanley Amuti (Sh41.2 million) and National Lands Commission (NLC) Director, Valuation, Salome Munubi (Sh18 million).
At the same time, the anti-corruption watchdog has flagged 565 offshore accounts held by State and public officers to avert laundering of proceeds of crime.
EACC Chief Executive Officer Twalib Mbarak spoke during Kenya Editors Guild (KEG) luncheon on Tuesday revealing that since 2015 the agency has recovered assets worth Sh19.9 billion.
Mbarak also noted that: “Over 357 cases are pending in various courts, seeking to recover assets worth over Sh8.6 billion.”
Assets include public land, unexplained wealth, government houses, public utility and road reserves.
Mbarak said so far nine governors have been charged in graft related cases amounting to Sh1.2 billion and others are under probe.
“There are a number of officers who own assets that do not match their legitimate sources of income,” he said.
The EACC boss also noted that wealth declaration by public and State officers had not been efficient.
“We have a problem, the political culture in this country where people look at how to steal. We should focus more on automating our service delivery systems to reduce human contact that breed the ground for graft,” he said.
“The Commission is focusing on Asset Recovery by extinguishing financial investigations and applying other statutes such as Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money laundering Act. EACC has invested in top notch officers to ensure that our investigations are always well done. Political culture must change for us to win this war,” he said.
