A former Nairobi County finance boss has been ordered to surrender Sh318 million in ill-gotten wealth to the Government.
Lady Justice Hedwig Ong’udi ruled that Jimmy Kiamba (right) could not explain how he acquired his massive wealth, which the anti-graft body said was looted from the county coffers.
Justice Ong’udi’s decision spelt doom for a man who used to earn Sh145,000 a month, but ended up amassing properties and cash deposits in bank accounts worth over Sh1 billion within a period of three years.
“My analysis of evidence proves that the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has established that the huge cash deposits in his accounts were proceeds of economic crimes and constitute unexplained assets which must be forfeited to the state,” the judge ruled.
Justice Ong’udi also allowed the Government to take over Kiamba’s palatial home in Runda estate if he fails to pay Sh35 million he used to buy the land.
READ MORE
EACC arrests three traffic officers over alleged bribery
City Hall in fresh bid to weed out employees with fake academic papers
Traffic officers arrested in festive-season anti-bribery sweep
Between convictions and acquittals: A year of uneven graft justice
The judge made the ruling in a case where the EACC sought to recover Sh872 million from the former chief finance officer (CFO) on grounds that his accumulated wealth did not tally with his known legitimate sources of income.
The EACC argued that Kiamba’s salary between 2009 and 2015 totalled to Sh5.8 million and wondered how he ended up with over Sh1 billion in cash and assets during his tenure as CFO between 2013 and 2015.
Among the properties the anti-graft body claimed Kiamba acquired through corruption were two maisonettes in Nairobi’s South C estate, several apartments spread across the city, a town house in Kileleshwa and parcels of land in Nairobi, Kajiado and Machakos.
Although Justice Ong’udi found that some of the properties and cash stashed in various accounts were acquired legitimately through loans and other businesses, she singled out Sh317,648,604 whose source Kiamba could not explain.
“His highest salary as at January 2015 was Sh145,326 but the bank statements and landed properties presented in court showed his wealth was slightly above Sh1 billion. This was a state of affairs that required explanation after genuine concerns of corruption were raised,” the judge said.
The ex-CFO had defended his wealth, saying he had made his money from farming, transport, a hotel, a quarry, rental income, water business, interior design and a beauty parlour. But the judge found that the businesses could not generate the huge amounts in three years.
Kiamba’s woes are far from over because he is also facing prosecution alongside former governor Evans Kidero over conspiracy to steal millions of shillings from the county government.
Kiamba and his co-accused are facing 31 charges ranging from abuse of office, fraudulent acquisition of public property, dealing with stolen public funds, receiving kickbacks and failure to pay taxes.
