• Biketi has acquired storeyed residential buildings in Mtwapa, Mombasa and Kitale.
• It's suspected that Kerubo who has been paid over Sh177 million is Biketi's proxy
Image: FILE
An accountant earning a monthly salary of Sh129,527 has attracted the attention of the anti-graft commission over Sh286 million wealth acquired in six years.
Andrew Biketi Musuya, a principal accountant in Trans Nzoia county, is also on the radar of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission over suspicious Sh177.7 million contracts awarded to a woman said to be his proxy.
According to documents filed in court by EACC sleuths, Biketi has suspiciously acquired storeyed residential buildings in Mtwapa (Kilifi), Mombasa and Kitale as well as a fleet of high-end vehicles.
According to the EACC, Biketi’s landed properties alone acquired between January 2013 and November 2018 are worth Sh226.8 million.
The suspect also acquired a Toyota Prado, a Toyota Harrier and a Toyota saloon — all valued at Sh9.6 million in that period.
While his earnings were Sh5.8 million in six years, the EACC detectives discovered that he had received cash deposits into his bank accounts totalling to Sh45.5 million, excluding his salary.
He had also received Sh7.9 million M-Pesa deposits.
But it was Biketi’s denial that he does not own the Toyota Prado acquired in 2015 that has opened a can of worms that might be his undoing as well as his alleged accomplice, one Mildred Kerubo Obare.
EACC detectives have established that the high-end car acquired for Sh5.6 million was registered in Kerubo’s name but paid for and owned by Biketi.
Ahmed Iftikhar, a Pakistani from whom he bought the car, told the EACC the vehicle was paid for in two instalments of Sh3 million and Sh2.6 million in less than three hours.
“I further wish to state that even though the name in the sale agreement indicates the buyer as Mildred Kerubo Obare, the said Kerubo did not physically appear in person during the payment or collection of the motor vehicle in question,” Ahmed told the anti-graft agency.
Kerubo, 46, a clothes trader, also confessed to EACC sleuths that she does not own the car and Biketi only used her particulars to acquire it.
“I wish to state that I have never paid any amount to acquire that vehicle and that I have never owned or seen the said vehicle but I have just heard it from Mr Andrew,” Kerubo told detectives.
In an intriguing revelation, the EACC established that Kerubo owns at least six firms, which have been paid at least Sh177.7 million by the Trans Nzoia county.
The commission suspects that Kerubo is Biketi’s proxy and her firms and banks accounts are conduits to embezzle taxpayer's money from the county government.
“The commission, through Ifmis, confirmed that the above companies owned by the said Mildred Kerubo Obare between the period of January 2013 and November 2018, have received a total of Sh177,780,789.10 from the county government of Trans Nzoia where the respondent is employed,” the EACC told the High Court.
The firms are Nyansha Enterprises, which received Sh49.9 million, Handprint Enterprises Sh16.4 million and Girlful Enterprises Sh21.3 million.
Others are Finewood Enterprises (Sh47.9 million), Culent Logistics (15.5 million) and Valuda Enterprises (Sh27.6 million).
According to the EACC, Biketi had been appointed as a member of the county procurement committee in the 2014-15 financial year for approval of all tenders of Sh500,000 and below.
The anti-graft sleuths also discovered that Trans Nzoia county paid Sh52 million to Josim Instantenous Colsultium Ltd, a firm in which Biketi is a partner for consultancy services, in his own department.
“The said Josim Instantaneous Colsultium Ltd rendered services for preparation of Asset Register and Finance Management services to the county government of Trans Nzoia, in particular, to the Finance Department where the respondent was working at that time, yet the respondent failed to disclose his interest to his employer,” the EACC stated.
It has also emerged that Biketi’s partner in Josim Instantaneous Colsultium, one Isaiah Walubengo is not an accountant by profession, hence incapacitated in rendering such professional services.
“It then reasonably goes without saying that the creation of a memorandum of understanding between the applicant and Isaiah was most probably just but a gimmick for the applicant to trade with his employer through the back door, hence an act of conflict of interest subject to proof upon further investigations,” Justice Onyiengo ruled on March 24.
The Star has established that through the judge, the EACC quietly obtained orders freezing Biketi’s three bank accounts with a total of Sh15.7 million.
However, the order is set to expire on June 24, although the agency led by Twalib Mbarak now intends to institute a recovery suit of assets worth Sh286 million.
“You are hereby afforded the opportunity to explain, in form of a written statement, the disproportion between the value of your assets and your known legitimate source of income within seven days of receipt of this letter, failing which the commission shall commence proceedings in the High Court with an aim of forfeiting the unexplained assets,” Mbarak warned Biketi in a letter dated March 28, 2019.