The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has obtained interim High Court orders preserving properties, a motor vehicle and funds in two bank accounts as it pursues the recovery of Sh244.97 million in a civil case involving a Lands procurement officer, his spouse and six companies.
The orders were issued by Justice Joseph Kipkoech Biomdo of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Division of the High Court in Milimani Law Courts.
The commission moved to court seeking to safeguard the assets pending the hearing and determination of its application for their preservation. In the orders, the court restrained the defendants, their agents, employees and any other persons acting on their behalf from withdrawing, transferring, disposing of or otherwise dealing with funds held in two specified bank accounts.
The judge also prohibited the first and second defendants, together with other persons interested in the identified properties and motor vehicle, from selling, transferring, leasing, charging or otherwise disposing of the assets, except by way of surrender to the Government of Kenya.
The case follows investigations by the EACC into alleged transactions linked to tender awards.
In its substantive claim, the commission is seeking restitution of Sh244,972,109.25, arguing that the amount should be recovered if the court establishes that the transactions under investigation were unlawful. Alternatively, the EACC wants the court to order the forfeiture and sale of the identified properties and motor vehicle, as well as the forfeiture of funds held in the specified bank accounts.
The preservation orders are intended to prevent the assets from being transferred, concealed, wasted or otherwise dealt with before the court determines the commission’s application and the underlying recovery suit. The restrictions will remain in force pending the inter partes hearing and determination of the application, when the parties will have an opportunity to present their respective positions.
Civil recovery proceedings allow the commission to seek the recovery or forfeiture of assets alleged to have been unlawfully acquired, subject to the court’s determination of the evidence and applicable law.
