New revelations as IEBC chicken scam agent’s bank accounts are frozen

Politics and policy

Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) offices at Integrity Centre in Nairobi. The corruption watchdog sought and got court orders to interrogate Trevy Oyombra's accounts. PHOTO | FILE 

By BRIAN WASUNA, bwasuna@ke.nationmedia.com

In Summary

• Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) investigators say that some Sh20.5 million was transferred to Mr Oyombra’s account on May 23 last year.
• Ignatius Wekesa, a forensic investigator at the EACC, says there is reason to believe that part of the deposit was intended to be paid to election officials in return for a tender he secured for Smith & Ouzman in the run-up to the March 2013 General Election.

Trevy James Oyombra, the man at the centre of a corruption scam involving a UK security printing firm Smith & Ouzman, may have bribed Kenyan election officials as late as last year, the Business Daily can now reveal.

Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) investigators seeking court orders to interrogate Mr Oyombra’s accounts in a local bank say in their application that some Sh20.5 million was transferred to Mr Oyombra’s account on May 23 last year.

Ignatius Wekesa, a forensic investigator at the EACC, says there is reason to believe that part of the deposit was intended to be paid to election officials in return for a tender he secured for Smith & Ouzman in the run-up to the March 2013 General Election.

The corruption watchdog told the court in its November 3, 2014 application that initial investigations had indicated Mr Oyombra’s accounts at Oriental Commercial Bank (OCB) were used as a conveyor belt for the transfer of bribes, codenamed ‘chicken’, from Smith & Ouzman to election officials.

“It has emerged that Mr Oyombra, jointly with others, benefitted from money remitted from the foreign company into these particular accounts,” says Mr Wekesa, adding that some of the money may have been paid to election officials as recently as last year.

“In view of the above facts, it is imperative that certain documents; being bank statements, account opening documents, banker books, mandate cards, swift transfer and any other documents that would enhance this investigation; be availed to us for investigation,” he said.

The court subsequently ordered that the bank provides the EACC with documents connected to Mr Oyombra’s account number 0070000862 in OCB’s Westlands branch.

The latest revelations about Mr Oyombra emerged from Nairobi’s Milimani Commercial Courts where the businessman has sued OCB, seeking to discharge his bank accounts from the freeze.

Mr Oyombra wants the freeze – imposed after the EACC sought and got court orders to interrogate his accounts – lifted on grounds that the directive only required the bank to co-operate with the investigators and not to freeze the accounts.

Oriental froze Mr Oyombra’s three bank accounts after it was served with an order from Nairobi’s Kibera Law Courts directing it to co-operate with the investigators.

READ: How UK sleuths unearthed Kenya ‘Chickengate’ scandal

PIC Centre, a firm owned by Mr Oyombra, is enjoined in the suit as the owner of two of the three frozen accounts.

Mr Oyombra says in court papers that he got to know of the bank’s decision to freeze his accounts on November 16, 2014 when he tried to withdraw money for an ongoing project in Kisumu.

“I was informed by the manager that OCB had frozen the accounts pursuant to a court order served upon them by EACC officers. I obtained a copy of the order only to realise that the warrant only authorised investigation. Nowhere did the court order any freezing of my accounts,” he says. Oriental is yet to respond to the petition Mr Oyombra filed last Friday.

Lady Justice Farah Amin directed Mr Oyombra to serve the bank with the suit papers so as to allow them time to respond