Anti-graft detectives yesterday seized several documents and two desktop computers after a 10-hour search of former Nairobi governor Evans Kidero’s home and a private office.
Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission investigators raided the former city boss’s Muthaiga residence at 6am and searched for six hours before moving to his private office at Eldama Park in Westlands.
It is believed the officers sought documents to help them sustain a graft case against the former governor. Kidero was charged with embezzlement of public funds during his tenure at City Hall on August 9.
He, alongside seven former officers of the Nairobi county government, were accused of facilitating the loss of Sh213,327,300 between January 16, 2014 and January 25, 2016. They were released on cash bail.
But Kidero said he was neither arrested nor did he record a statement during the entire 10-hour raid. He and his lawyer Peter Wanyama, however, questioned the intent and purpose of the raid. They claimed the purpose of the search was not specified in the search warrant produced by the officers.
“It looks like they are on a meandering path looking for information which they didn’t specify in the search warrant,” Wanyama said. He said he would challenge the warrant in court, claiming it was defective and that the search amounted to a violation of his client’s rights.
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Late son’s passport taken
EACC deputy chief executive Michael Mubea and communications officer Yasin Amaro did not respond to inquiries on whether the raid was related to the case or if it was a different probe.
Kidero questioned the motive and the timing of the search and claimed that the move was political and only aimed at harassing and intimidating him. “It appears to us they are on a fishing expedition to get what can help them in a case which was dead even before it started against me,” Kidero said moments after the investigators left his office.
He claimed his late son’s passport, his house ownership documents and other papers not relevant to the corruption case were seized.
“I lost a son in 1999; he was 15 and half. They took his passport. They took his documents. Of what relevance is that? They have taken my 17-year-old son’s documents, including equipment he plays with,” Kidero lamented.
“It is curious that this thing was to be done today. We know that this week two things have happened and continue to happen. And in my mind, I see politics in this. Its intention is to divert attention.”
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