Kenya's sweeper, teaboy millionaires

From cleaners, drivers, accountants, clerks to supervisors, some junior government workers became overnight millionaires by turning State corporations into cash cows through a web of corruption that would have not been noticed were it not for their lavish lifestyles.

With homes in upmarket neighbourhoods in major towns, they also bought high-end apartments, invested in immovable properties, including land and had their children enjoy the ambience of expensive “group of schools”.

And then Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (EACC) sleuths came calling and their empires, built on quicksand, came crashing down like a deck of cards, making theirs a story of rags to riches and back.

NYS junior officer

On March 31, a former supervisor in charge of the mechanical and transport department at the National Youth Service (NYS) lost part of his Sh450 million empire after the court found that the properties were proceeds of crime acquired through corruption.

Despite his monthly salary of Sh26,000, Evans Wafula Kundu was living life on the fast lane while rubbing shoulders with the country’s top executives within the exclusive Runda estate where he bought a property worth Sh90 million.

He rose from grass to grace and back to grass when Justice Esther Maina found that his wealth was from proceeds of crime acquired through stealing public funds at NYS and which he must forfeit to the State.

Justice Maina found that Kundu’s properties spread across Trans Nzoia, Nakuru and Nairobi were directly bought using money stolen from NYS through collusion with rogue traders and companies who were paid millions of shillings for supplying nothing to the State agency.

NYS scandal suspect Evans Wafula Kundu during a past court session. [Standard]

“He could not have acquired the massive wealth and assets legitimately given his income at the time. I am satisfied that the properties are proceeds of crime and hence liable to be forfeited to the government,” ruled Maina.

Kundu lost to the State the property in Runda, a plot in Kasarani worth Sh16 million, a property in Nakuru East valued at Sh25 million, a four-storey residential building in Njoro and 40-acres of land in Kitale, Trans Nzoia County.

The suit against Kundu was filed by the Asset Recovery Agency (ARA), claiming that between 2013 and 2018 when there was a looting spree at NYS, the junior officer amassed massive wealth which included Sh197,391,968 cash deposits in his accounts and properties worth Sh350 million.

ARA claimed that Kundu performed several roles in the fraudulent NYS transactions where he signed most of the fraudulent Local Purchase Orders and issued payment vouchers for goods not used or required by his transport department.

Next, is the hunter who became the hunted:

For 15 years, Jeremiah Kamau Kinyua hunted down tax cheats as a supervisor at the Kenya Revenue Authority and, in the process, acquired properties worth Sh200 million suspected to be proceeds of corruption.

His under dealings were laid bare by the EACC through an application in court where the commission is seeking to recover the assets he allegedly acquired through corruption.

Kinyua had thought he had acquired enough to enjoy in his retirement and prematurely terminated his contract with the taxman when he resigned in 2021 only for the court to freeze his properties pending the conclusion of the forfeiture application.

Kinyua’s properties suspected to be proceeds of corruption and which were frozen include 12 parcels of land located in Ruiru, Kiambu County; five plots in Githunguri, Kiambu County; a piece of land in Laikipia; another plot in Nairobi and a Toyota Prado vehicle valued at Sh3.5 million.

According to documents filed in court by EACC, Kinyua worked for KRA for 15 years as a supervisor before he resigned, raising suspicion about how he acquired his wealth.

The Times Tower building which houses the Kenya Revenue Authority headquarters in Nairobi. [File, Standard]

EACC claimed that Kinyua acquired massive properties, which were not proportionate with his known sources of income and which made them suspect they were acquired through corruption.

“Our investigations found a huge disproportion between the value of Kinyua’s assets and his known legitimate source of income. We suspect that he engaged in corruption and economic crimes as a result of which he has unexplained assets totalling Sh192,020,582,” said EACC.

The commission told the court that between 2012 and January 2021, Kinyua’s net salary and known sources of income totalled Sh11 million, which does not correspond with the accumulated wealth.

And then came the prison cleaner

At the Kenya Prisons where prisoners have been complaining about food rationing, one of their cleaners is alleged to have taken advantage to rake in millions of shillings by faking delivery of foodstuffs.

For three years between 2016 and 2018, Eric Kipkurui Mutai rose from the 'hustlers club' where he earned Sh20,800 per month as a cleaning supervisor at the State Department for Correctional Services to a multi-millionaire with assets spread across Nairobi, Kisii and Kericho counties.

EACC says that Mutai corruptly acquired Sh257 million meant for purchasing food and ration for prisoners and obtained a court order freezing the properties suspected to be proceeds of corruption.

Lady Justice Esther Maina issued the order restraining Mutai from dealing in or transferring the listed assets, including seven vehicles valued at more than Sh32 million.

“The freezing orders shall subsist for a period of six months up to October 2022 to allow EACC complete investigations into the allegations of fraud and embezzlement of public funds, and to file a formal application for recovery of the public resources,” ruled Maina.

EACC says that Eric Kipkurui Mutai corruptly acquired Sh257 million meant for purchasing food and ration for prisoners and obtained a court order freezing the properties suspected to be proceeds of corruption. [Wilberforce Okwiri]

 

Apart from the seven vehicles, Mutai’s other assets are a house in Nairobi valued at Sh17.5 million, two parcels of land in Nyaribari Chache in Kisii County valued at Sh25 million and another piece of land in Kericho County valued at Sh17 million.

EACC in its suit claimed that the cleaning supervisor registered seven companies between 2012 and 2016 for the sole purpose of siphoning public funds under the guise of supplying foodstuffs to prisoners through collusion with senior prisons officers in charge of supply.

“His companies were the conduits for embezzling the Sh257 million through fictitious contracts for the supply of food and ration to the State Department of Correctional Services when the goods were never supplied,” said EACC.

Mutai is said to have registered Unique Supplies, Homex Logistics Enterprises and Hygienic Ventures as the vehicles of fleecing the prisons department through fictitious tenders for food supply for which he received the Sh257 million.

“Mutai purported to have supplied food and ration to seven prison facilities in Nairobi but our investigations established no such goods were ever supplied. We discovered that his companies were registered between 2016 and 2017 for the sole purpose of receiving the funds,” said EACC.

Before the dust could settle on Mutai’s case, EACC struck at the Ministry of Environment and Forestry and netted a junior finance officer who allegedly siphoned Sh79.7 million under the pretext that he used the amount to buy snacks for ministry officials.

Samuel Njoroge Kariuki, a finance officer with a monthly salary of Sh31,000 had his account with Sh22 million frozen by Justice Daniel Ogembo over suspicion that they were proceeds of corruption and embezzlement of public funds.