Tough rules for State officers with foreign bank accounts

Politics and policy

Integrity House, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission headquarters in Nairobi. PHOTO | FILE 

By KIARIE NJOROGE, gkiarie@ke.nationmedia.com

In Summary

• Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (EACC) gazetted the code for its employees last week, laying the ground for government-wide compliance with the constitutional provision that bars State officers from holding foreign bank accounts.
• Upon signing the code, the top EACC employees will be required to get written authorisation by the commission to open or operate foreign accounts.
• The decision to bar State officers from opening foreign bank accounts is meant to stop the shipping out of billions of shillings mostly stolen from the public by senior government officials.

State officers working for the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (EACC) will in the next seven days sign a code of conduct that, among other conditions, requires them to declare any bank accounts held outside Kenya.

The ethics watchdog gazetted the code for its employees last week, laying the ground for government-wide compliance with the constitutional provision that bars State officers from holding foreign bank accounts.

Upon signing the code, the top EACC employees will be required to get written authorisation by the commission to open or operate foreign accounts.

“A State officer, who operates or controls the operation of a bank account outside Kenya, shall submit statements of the account annually to the commission and shall authorise the commission to verify the statements and any other relevant information from the foreign financial institution in which the account is held,” said the gazette notice, suggesting that the EACC intends to cast the integrity net beyond its staff.

Most government agencies and commissions operate under a general code of conduct in compliance with Chapter Six of the Constitution and signing specific codes looks set to put State officers under higher levels of scrutiny over money held abroad.

The Leadership and Integrity Act requires public entities to prescribe a specific code for State officers in their service but gives no timeline within which they must comply.

“Upon appointment or election, a State officer shall sign and commit to the specific Leadership and Integrity Code issued by the relevant public entity at the time of taking the oath of office or within seven days of assuming a State office,” the law says.

The EACC has four State officers and the gazettement of the code is seen as marking the ethics watchdog’s preparation to enforce the requirement across the board.

The decision to bar State officers from opening foreign bank accounts is meant to stop the shipping out of billions of shillings mostly stolen from the public by senior government officials.

Switzerland and the UK islands of Guernsey and Jersey top the list of foreign destinations that are popular with the Kenyan elite and are estimated to hold billions of shillings stolen from public coffers or received in the form of bribes to influence the award of multi-billion-shilling government tenders.

Former Energy minister Chris Okemo and former Kenya Power boss Samuel Gichuru are in court fighting their extradition to the UK to face charges of money laundering and corruption.

The duo is accused of transferring and concealing the proceeds of crime amounting to Sh900 million between 1986 and 2002. Mr Okemo served as Energy minister between 1999 and 2001 and as Finance minister from 2001 to 2002.

READ: Okemo, Gichuru extradition case to proceed

He faces 15 counts of money laundering and misconduct in public office, while Mr Gichuru faces 40 counts of money laundering, fraud and misconduct in public office.

Kenya is also pursuing the repatriation of money that senior government officials and their foreign agents stole through the Anglo Leasing security contracts and kept in Swiss banks.