Court freezes purchasing officer's property worth Sh537m over graft

EACC offices at Integrity Centre, Nairobi. EACC alleges the officer who worked at City Hall received millions through kickbacks. [Elvis Ogina, Standard] A procurement officer at Nairobi City County is on the verge of losing properties worth Sh537 million he allegedly acquired through corruption. This follows a suit filed at the High Court by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC). According to EACC, Michael Auka Ajwang engaged in corrupt practices, leading to acquisition of the assets which are beyond his known sources of income. "We established that between January 2014 and June 2022 when he was employed as purchasing officer at City Hall, he engaged in acts of abuse of office and bribery by receiving millions of shillings through kickbacks from entities that were awarded tenders by the county government," said EACC. To preserve the properties, Justice Esther Maina has issued an order freezing Ajwang's bank accounts and assets spread across Nairobi, Kisumu and Siaya counties pending determination of the suit. The properties frozen include a three-star hotel known as Hydeout Riviera located along the Kisumu-Bondo Road, 10 motor vehicles, five parcels of land in Siaya, three plots in Kisumu, and another piece of land in Nairobi's Utawala estate. "The court hereby issues an order stopping the respondent, his servants or anyone acting on his behalf from transferring, selling or dealing in the listed properties pending hearing and determination of the suit," ruled Maina. The commission through lawyer Joram Wambugu filed the formal application to have Ajwang's properties forfeited to the state after eight months of investigations in which they discovered his legitimate sources of income within the period of investigations did not match his acquired assets. According to EACC, the junior officer's legitimate assets, cumulative salary plus those derived from his other businesses between 2014 and 2022 totalled Sh4.6 million. He, however, has properties valued at Sh537 million which he cannot explain how he acquired. "He used his company registered as Hydeout Riviera Ltd to abet corruption. It is through the company that he accumulated the massive wealth within eight years, with suspicion that the monies were acquired through bribes and kickbacks from companies awarded contracts," said Wambugu. EACC investigator Feiza Abdi in his affidavit to support the application swore that the investigations revealed Ajwang's hotel in Kisumu is valued at Sh176 million, his seven parcels of land in Kisumu and Siaya are worth Sh45.5 million while the motor vehicles are worth Sh14.5 million. He added that analysis of his three bank accounts established that he received credits totalling Sh187 million, his M-Pesa accounts received Sh117 million while his hotel had in its accounts Sh35.5 million. "It is only fair that the assets be forfeited to the state for being proceeds of corruption," swore Abdi. Justice Maina directed Ajwang to respond within 14 days and set hearing on June 13.

Court freezes purchasing officer's property worth Sh537m over graft

Get Full Access for Ksh299/Week.

Related Topics

Popular this week

Latest Stories

The Standard Insider

Digger Classified

GET OUR NEWSLETTER

CONNECT WITH US

FOR THE LATEST JOB ADVERTS

DIGGER JOBS

Digger Motors

Digger Real Estate

Court freezes purchasing officer's property worth Sh537m over graft

Get Full Access for Ksh299/Week.

Related Topics

Trending Now

Popular this week

Latest Stories

The Standard Insider

Digger Classified

GET OUR NEWSLETTER

CONNECT WITH US

FOR THE LATEST JOB ADVERTS