A judge has ordered forfeiture of Sh19.6 million held in three accounts believed to be proceeds of crime.
Anti-Corruption Court judge Hedwig Ong’udi said the money belonging to Pamela Aboo, a spouse of a Kenya Revenue Authority employee, should be confiscated and handed over to the Assets Recovery Agency.
She granted a stay order for seven days, which means the money will not be seized during that time to allow Aboo to challenge the decision.
If Aboo does not get an order from the Court of Appeal to change the order, the money will be handed over to state.
Ong’udi said though Aboo told the court she was a businesswoman, she did not present evidence to support her claims, which would have made clear the source of her money.
The judge said forfeiture is not a violation of an individual’s right to property because that right does not extend to any property found to have been unlawfully acquired.
Read:
Her judgment arose out of an application by the Assets Recovery Agency, seeking forfeiture of the money. The agency questioned the source of the money and approached court, saying it believed it to be proceeds of crime or obtained through corruption.
Yesterday Ong’udi said random perusal of the accounts shows there is no single day that a deposit of less than Sh100,000 was made.
For example, a deposit of Sh270,000 was made on August 8, 2016, Sh240,000 on August 11, 2016, and Sh360,000 on August 30, 2016.
Further Sh300,000 was deposited on September 21, Sh365,000 was deposited four days later and on October 4 another deposit of Sh250,000 was made.
Read:
When asked to explain the huge deposits, Aboo said they came from a transport business she runs with Samsom Waweru and another business that she runs with Jonathan Kimindu.
Aboo said she invested Sh1 million in the transport business and Waweru would deposit money into her account. But she never brought Waweru or any other business partner to testify or swear an affidavit to prove her claim, Ong’udi said.
She said in the absence of evidence to show the source of the money, the court is left with no option but to believe that it was acquired unlawfully.
Ong’udi said Aboo never made any withdrawals from the accounts, except once when she wanted to transfer Sh2 million to someone who was selling her land. The bank declined the transfer.