Sh58m, 40 land parcels, 8 cars: Property gets KETRACO employee in trouble

The High Court has frozen seven accounts associated with a senior employee of the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO) for alleged pilferage of public funds.

The employee, a procurement manager, has consequently been barred from withdrawing more than Sh58 million from his accounts, directly or through proxies, for a period of six months. 

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has sought to further investigate his dealings.

Justice Esther Maina issued the freeze order on Tuesday, November 30.

Five of the seven accounts are at Unaitas Sacco Limited, while the remaining two are at Stima Sacco Limited.

“An order is hereby issued prohibiting the respondent, his agent, servants or any other person from withdrawing, transferring or disposing of, or otherwise dealing with the funds held in the listed Sacco accounts for a period of six months,” the court ordered.

In the two accounts at Stima Sacco, the KETRACO manager has Sh13.6 million in one account and Sh11.9 million in another.

At the Unaitas Sacco, the manager has a shares account totalling Sh32.2 million, while Sh930,760 is held in the form of dividends.

According to EACC, the manager earned a total net remuneration of Sh35.7 million between February 2010 and March 2021 and Sh4.4 million in imprest.

The probe, however, unravelled a plethora of property owned by the suspect. The property under investigation is 40 parcels of land in Nakuru, Nairobi and Nyandarua counties, which he acquired in the same period.

Also being probed are eight motor vehicles belonging to the manager.

EACC told the court that the assets accumulated by the respondent are disproportionate to his known legitimate source of income and money listed in the Sacco accounts should be preserved pending completion of the investigation.

“An analysis of the preliminary investigations has raised a reasonable suspicion that considering the respondent’s salary, large and frequent deposits into his bank accounts, shares and deposits in his Sacco account are disproportionate to his legitimate known sources of income and could have been obtained through corrupt conduct,” the anti-graft agency said.

According to EACC, the respondent has “illegally and irregularly” engaged in influence and award of tenders and payment of goods and services. In the process, the anti-graft body said, the accused got rich through bribes and embezzlement of public funds.

EACC sought to have his accounts frozen to stop him from compromising investigations through withdrawal, transfer or disposal of the funds.

“In the absence of an order, there is nothing preventing the respondent from dealing with the bank account in the intervening period by withdrawing, transferring, disposing or wasting the same, to the detriment of the public,” EACC said.

The anti-corruption agency is also investigating the KETRACO employee’s allies and close family members, including his spouse.