The high price of graft: State, county bigwigs lose millions in forfeited wealth

Corruption in Kenya is proving costly not only to the public but also to powerful individuals who once enjoyed the trappings of office.

As the state intensifies efforts to claw back the proceeds of crime, senior county leaders and national officials are watching fortunes built on graft vanish under the hammer. The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission has in recent years stepped up asset recovery drives, forcing suspects of economic crimes to surrender homes, land, vehicles and other wealth worth billions of shillings.

For many, the loss of such assets underscores that corruption, once thought to guarantee overnight riches, can end in financial ruin and public humiliation.

The latest to suffer the sting is former Migori Governor Okoth Obado, whose assets valued at Sh428.6 million are set to be auctioned between October 7 and 19, following a court forfeiture order. In one of the country’s largest graft recovery efforts, EACC said 10 prime properties linked to Obado will go under the hammer.

They include apartments in Migori, Kisumu and Nairobi, a mansionette in Nairobi, a residential property in Migori and a commercial block.

In Nairobi, Obado will lose high-end apartments in Riara and Green Span estates, mansionettes in Savannah Estate, townhouses on Waiyaki Way and a three-bedroom unit in Riara Close, Kilimani, which comes with access to a gym, swimming pool and ample parking.

Also listed for auction are two-bedroom apartments in Greenspan Estate, Donholm; Maisonette No. 279 in Savannah Estate measuring 165 square metres; and a townhouse in Loresho Ridge, off Waiyaki Way. Beyond Nairobi, the EACC will liquidate multiple rental units, parcels of land and residential blocks in Migori town and Suna East.

The scale of the recovery, analysts say, signals the growing resolve by anti-graft agencies to not only prosecute offenders but also ensure crime no longer pays.

The commission in its notice announced it had engaged the services of Galaxy Auctioneers, Keyslan Auctioneers and Astorion Auctioneers to conduct the said Obado auction.

The commission secured orders for forfeiture in a plea bargain following years of investigations into Obado’s tenure in Migori county, a period in which he and his family and allies were accused of benefiting from fraudulent multimillion-shilling county contracts.

But it’s not just Obado who is feeling the heat.

In a ruling on August 6, chief magistrate P Mutua ruled in favour of the EACC against Peter Muhatia Alubale over an illegally allocated parcel of land in Kakamega. The magistrate found the 2.4 acre-parcel was public land and not available for allocation.

The Asset Recovery Agency in July secured a ruling at the High Court allowing it to recover cash deposits from Aphanus Mokaya, who worked as a chief officer in the Kisii government. The court determined that Sh17 million held at Stima Sacco Kisumu Branch was proceeds of crime and directed that it be forfeited to the State.

ARA argued that Mokaya received large unsupported payments totalling Sh65.1 million between 2014 and 2021 from Kisii county into his bank count without reasonable explanation and supporting documents. Out of the amount, only Sh595,196 was salary payments for the duration he was an employee of the county government of Kisii.

“Upon investigations, the County Government of Kisii confirmed through a letter dated September 25, 2023 that it could trace documents in support of only eight payments to the respondent, totalling Sh7.1 million,” the ruling read in part.

“Neither the county government of Kisii nor the respondent provided documents to support the other payments made to the respondent.”

Consequently, the investigators found that all the other payments to Mokaya, totalling Sh58 million, were unsupported by any document, making this a clear case of embezzlement of public funds. In October last year, the High Court gave the EACC the green light to seize assets worth Sh91 million from former Machakos executive Urbanus Musyoka.

The order was issued after the court found that the assets were acquired through corruption when the official served in the Machakos government between January 2014 and July 2021. They consisted of a residential building worth Sh80.2 million and Sh11 million in cash, transacted through his two separate bank accounts.  

While Wambua appealed the decision, the commission is still pursuing another Sh450 million from Musyoka, also believed to have been proceeds of graft. In March, the court ordered Musyoka to deposit Sh80 million as security for judgement pending the appeal.

In another ground-breaking matter, former Nairobi chief finance officer Jimmy Kiamba was ordered pay back Sh318 million, whose source he failed to explain. In default, the court ruled that his Runda house in Nairobi would be seized.

Former Makuyu subcounty treasurer, town clerk and chairman, among other public officials, were ordered by Justice Hedwig Ong’udi to pay back Sh28.6 million, which they were accused of embezzling. In addition, Sh1.5 million in their bank accounts was frozen and forfeited to the state.

Former National Youth Service official Evans Wafula Kundu had his properties seized by the ARA three years ago and in January failed to block the agency from taking over the assets, which were declared the proceeds of crime.

They include flats in Kasarani worth Sh16 million, which he acquired in April 2014, 40 acres of land in Kitale bought in 2013, a plot in Kitale, a house in Runda worth Sh73 million, a house in Kiamunyi in Nakuru and a lorry.

In its 2023-24 financial year reporting, the EACC said it had traced about Sh16 billion in illegally acquired and unexplained assets and recovered about Sh2.9 billion through court rulings and settlements during the year.

The EACC further said in its January annual report reveals that it is pursuing more than 400 cases for forfeiture of corruptly acquired assets valued at about Sh49.5 billion.