Human trafficker loses Sh100m assets to State

Dealers exchange money after an illegal business. [File, Standard]

A man found guilty of human trafficking has lost properties worth over Sh100 million he acquired using money from the illegal trade.

Justice Esther Maina ordered Peter Mugi Kamau to forfeit to the government a five-storey building, land in Mlolongo, five vehicles and money in his three bank accounts.

"The court finds that the landed properties, the funds in the cited bank accounts and the motor vehicles are all proceeds of the illegal business of trafficking in persons hence tainted property. They are therefore all liable for forfeiture to the state," ruled Maina.

The Asset Recovery Agency sued Kamau, claiming that he acquired properties worth millions of shillings through a human trafficking syndicate.

The businessman was in October 2020 charged with trafficking in persons after being arrested in Ruiru within Kiambu County while harbouring 22 Ethiopians.

The Director of Criminal Investigations claimed he was trafficking the foreigners to South Africa.

ARA told the court that after the arrest and prosecution of the businessman, they commenced investigations to ascertain his wealth and discovered that huge amounts of money were being deposited in his account and hurriedly withdrawn to conceal the sources.

According to ARA, Kamau and his wife Consolata Ndunge devised complex criminal networks of deceiving, enticing, transporting and harbouring vulnerable persons through international organised criminal network for purposes of exploiting and obtaining profits from their victims.

"His victims from Ethiopia were smuggled through undesignated border point between Kenya and Ethiopia in groups before he placed them in some hideouts before transporting them to Tanzania and South Africa," said ARA.

The agency stated that when they did a search on Kamau's businesses, they discovered that he was using the five vehicles to traffic people from Ethiopia and using the proceeds to acquire his wealth.

Justice Maina agreed that the properties and funds held in Kamau's accounts were suspicious deposits and were proceeds of crime arising from the illegal trafficking of persons, an offence for which he was charged.

"He is part of a complex international network of human traffickers with a business of luring unsuspecting victims with jobs in Kenya and South Africa. His role was to provide transport, food accommodation and harbouring the victims before shipping them out," ruled Maina.

The judge ruled that although Kamau claimed to be involved in a matatu, diesel and M-Pesa business, he did not produce any documents that would satisfy the court that that was the position or that he was engaged in any legitimate business at all.

"He did not for instance exhibit any PSV or any licences authorising him to engage in the business of M-Pesa or sale of petroleum products. Neither did he produce records evidencing that the funds were from the alleged businesses," she ruled.

Justice Maina directed the Ministry of Lands to ensure that the titles of the landed properties are revoked and transferred to the government.