Judge refuses to open frozen bank accounts of former PS facing NYS corruption charges

Former Youth and Gender Affairs PS Lilian Omollo at the Milimani law court during the hearing of a case where she is accused of the abuse of the office. [Beverlyne Musili/Standard]

The High Court has declined to lift orders freezing the accounts of former Youth and Gender Affairs PS Lillian Omollo.

Ms Omollo is among several suspects facing corruption charges in relation to theft of public funds from the National Youth Service (NYS).

Lady Justice Hedwig Ong’udi, however, allowed Omollo to withdraw Sh2 million from one of the accounts to cater for her living expenses. The other accounts thought to hold more than Sh32 million will remain frozen pending determination of how she acquired her wealth.

“There is a lot of room for her to adjust her lifestyle to fit into her current financial status given that there is high public interest in the money from NYS which made her to be charged with a criminal offence and which cannot just be wished away,” ruled Justice Ong’udi.

Ong’udi noted that Omollo had stated that she owned a farm, and therefore can use it to sustain her lifestyle instead of asking the court to unfreeze her accounts while a case is still pending to compel her forfeit her wealth to the State.

The Assets Recovery Agency sought to recover part of the former PS’s wealth suspected to have been acquired as proceeds of crime. The agency obtained orders freezing the former PS ten accounts registered in the names of Sahara Consultants, Lidi Holdings Ltd, Lidi Estates Ltd, Stephanie Marigu Sheela Wangari and Shalom Malaika.

According to the investigator, all ten accounts registered by Omollo received huge deposits between 2016 and 2018 at the time she was the PS.

When summoned to explain sources of her fund, the agency said Omollo stated that the money was given to her by the husband.