A former accountant in the Trans Nzoia county government sued by the EACC has denied claims his properties worth Sh204 million are from corrupt dealings.
Andrew Biketi said an application filed by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission seeking an order that he forfeits his properties is misguided.
Biketi said he acquired the properties lawfully over ten years. The investigations were not conducted in good faith, but were deliberately filed with malice, he said.
“The present application is misguided and unashamedly fashioned based on unfounded facts that are set out to misguide the court into believing that I am in possession of unexplained assets. It’s unreasonable for EACC to assert that my ten years’ worth of hard work and toil are unexplained and that I ought to be ordered to forfeit the properties to the government,” he says.
Biketi in court documents has listed his income and assets and the time he acquired them. He mentions investments in maize farming, entertainment business in Kapenguria town, petroleum dealing as Mukuyu Petroleum Dealers, among others.
He says despite having conducted investigations for over one year, the EACC has not presented any evidence to link him to any corrupt dealings.
“I stand to suffer if orders blocking me from accessing my accounts are allowed to stay in force as presently I am not earning any salary and not financially able to cater for my own subsistence and that of my family owing to the fact that I’m no longer under employment with the county government of Trans Nzoia,” Biketi says.
The anti-graft agency filed the application last month to seize Sh286 million wealth from the accountant, including two blocks of apartments with 30 one-bedroom units each in Kilifi.
The commission claims that Biketi who acquired the fortune in a record six years cannot convincingly explain his source of wealth. Biketi earned a net salary of Sh101,859 per month. EACC argues the properties were acquired through corruption and should be forfeited to the government.
