Sh5m fine for arranging graft assets sale

National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale has published the bill. FILE PHOTO | NMG 

By EDWIN MUTAI

More by this Author

Summary

• Aden Duale has published a bill that seeks to revise the bribery law to penalise intermediaries who arrange for transfer of the title of the ill-gotten property.
• Currently, the law only criminalises the actual use, possession, transfer, and recording such property in the books of account.
• The proposed changes seek to rope in the third parties, including lawyers as Kenya ropes in the private sector in the fight against corruption.

Agents and brokers will be fined Sh5 million or jailed for 10 years for arranging sale of property obtained through corruption if MPs approve new changes to the Bribery Act.

Leader of Majority Aden Duale has published a bill that seeks to revise the bribery law to penalise intermediaries who arrange for transfer of the title of the ill-gotten property.

At the moment, the law only criminalises the actual use, possession, transfer, and recording such property in the books of account. The proposed changes seek to rope in the third parties, including lawyers as Kenya ropes in the private sector in the fight against corruption.

“Any person who knowingly assists a person or a private entity to give or receive a bribe by acquiring property which was obtained as a result of or in connection with bribery commits an offence,” the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill, 2018 states.

Mr Duale has also proposed the deletion of section 16 (7) and (12) of the Act that relates to offences by corporate organisations.

Section 7 relates to function or activity to which a bribe relates while Section 12 outlined the role of the Cabinet Secretary in providing guidance about private entities preventing bribery.

“The Cabinet Secretary shall, in consultation with the Commission, publish guidelines to assist private and public entities in the preparation of procedures required under this Part,” the deleted section reads.

The repealed section required the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to provide such assistance as may be necessary to any private or public entity or any other person in the implementation of procedures issued by the Cabinet Secretary.

READ: Amount of bribe paid for services in Kenya shoots up

Mr Duale did not give reasons for the deletion of the sections.

Kenya now demands that businesses sign an ethics code and companies and officials violating the code would be blacklisted for dealing in State contracts for at least five years.

Companies and investors cite pervasive graft as one of the biggest challenges to doing business in Kenya. The private sector has been cited for abetting the graft. The EACC reckons that nearly a thirds of State budget is lost to corruption every year.

Kenya’s ranking improved slightly in the Transparency International study released in February, placing it at position 143 compared to 145 last year against 180 countries.

According to the organisation’s executive director Samuel Kimeu, Kenya has no proper law to tame the malpractice, even as people demand punishment of those thriving in the vice.