Leave my wife alone – Kidero tells EACC

Former Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero has accused the anti-corruption agency of dragging his family into allegations made against him.

Dr Kidero, who is seeking to discredit the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) claims that he is worth Sh9 billion, accused the agency of taking advantage of the Magistrate Court’s search orders to cart away, among other things, his wife’s documents.

He told the court that EACC also searched the properties of his wife, Susan Mboya, and his children and carried away documents although they have a right to their own investments.

According to Kidero, where spouses are concerned, the EACC ignored that Dr Mboya was an independent party.

He argued that the court should have known that Mumias Sugar was a private entity that was run by successive boards of directors.

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According to Kidero, EACC has no powers to investigate private entities.

“Had they made that disclosure, the court should have known that it had no powers to issue the orders,” argued Kidero through lawyers James Orengo, Nelson Havi and Tom Ojienda.

According to Kidero, the EACC ought to have first asked him whether he owned all of the 75 properties it listed.

He argued that 15 of them did not belong to him.

“What the applicant did was to illegally seek information but also use the same to tarnish the applicant’s name by publishing the same in newspapers,” he argued.

Lawyer Orengo told the court that EACC was on a fishing mission to find evidence.

“My lady, this is a fishing expedition shrouded in malice and is an abuse of the court. One of the documents they seized was Abigael Kidero’s death certificate,” argued Orengo.

He argued that a piece of property that EACC claims is worth Sh300 million was family land where the former governor’s parents were buried.

In its reply, EACC argued that Kidero had filed a separate case seeking the same orders, which was disallowed.

“He does not deny that he is a director with the other petitioners in the case. It is not uncommon for persons to use furtherance to purchase properties and it is not uncommon to have companies disguised to conceal ownership of properties,” argued EACC.

According to EACC, its claim on Kidero’s property ownership was just an allegation that would be verified upon the conclusion of the investigations.

It argued that it was only after verification that it would either clear Kidero or have him charged.