- Former PS Lillian Omollo was the first culprit after High Court judge Mumbi Ngugi ordered she forfeits Sh33.6 million to the state.
- Last week saw Charity Wangui Gethi, the mother of Ben Gethi, lose Sh97. 6 million.
Image: FILE
At least Sh130 million and properties worth Sh45 million bought using money stolen from the National Youth Service has been forfeited to the state since April last year.
This has been a notable win for agencies involved in the fight against corruption.
Former PS Lillian Omollo was the first culprit after High Court judge Mumbi Ngugi ordered she forfeits Sh33.6 million to the state.
Mumbi on April 24 last year said the funds held in bank accounts in the names of Omollo, her three daughters and entities run by her husband were proceeds of crime and therefore liable for forfeiture to the state.
Omollo had claimed that the funds were from produce from a farm owned by Sahara Consultants and her husband Dick Achieng in Uyoma, Siaya.
They grew vegetables such as tomatoes and capsicums in greenhouses.
But Ngugi refuted the claims, saying none of the documents adduced in court by Omollo showed receipt of funds that could explain deposits of Sh500,000 or Sh900,000 on a single day.
She also said that Omollo and her team did not produce any documents to show that they owned the farm in Uyoma.
Three months later, Ngugi in a separate decision ordered a former finance director of NYS to forfeit properties worth millions of shillings to the state.
The properties included a maisonette in Kasarani, Nairobi, and a parcel of land in Juja, Kiambu county.
Ngugi further ordered Sam Mwadime and others mentioned in the case that was filed by the Assets Recovery Agency to surrender four high-end vehicles to the state. The vehicles had been registered in the names of relatives to conceal the true identity of the owners.
The Juja property was valued at approximately Sh3.8 million. Regarding the maisonette at Kasarani, ARA said on March 31, 2015, Josephine Kabura,a key suspect in the NYS scandal, deposited Sh40 million to Mwadime’s account held in Family Bank.
It was established that Mwadime who also goes by the name of Samuel Mdanyi Wachenje used a forged national identification card to open the account number at Family where the Sh40 million was deposited.
Mwadime subsequently used some of the money to purchase the house worth Sh21 million from one Tirus Mutoru in 2015. He paid the money in several installments and transferred the house to his wife Susan Mdanyi.
The vehicles which they were ordered to surrender were valued at approximately Sh20 million.
The latest decision that was rendered by the court regarding the NYS funds was on Thursday last week which saw Charity Wangui Gethi, the mother of Ben Gethi, lose Sh97. 6 million. Justice Ngugi ruled that the money held in four accounts was proceeds of crime.
Court documents show that Sh87.7 million was in Wangui Gethi’s accounts at Faulu Bank, Standard Chartered and Old Mutual and Sh10 million in Samuel Mdanyi Wachenje alias Sam Mwadime's Family Bank account. The funds were siphoned from the agency between 2014 and 2015.
Edited by Henry Makori