Court freezes Sh22.4 million owned by State official

By SAM KIPLAGAT
More by this Author

The High Court has frozen Sh22.4 million belonging to a finance official working at the

Ministry of Environment and Forestry suspected to have been stolen from the government. 

Evidence presented in court shows that he opened the bank account on August 21, 2009, which he uses to receive his salary. His net salary was Sh42,246 as of March 2022.

Justice Daniel Ogembo allowed the prayers sought by Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), allowing the freezing the funds held in a local bank for six months. 

The commission sought the order arguing that it has been investigating Mr Samuel Kariuki Njoroge, over claims of embezzlement of public funds and abuse of office. Most of the funds were sent to his bank account on claims of imprest for the purchase of snacks at the ministry.

“The commission’s findings have raised reasonable suspicion that considering the respondent’s salary, the credits into his bank accounts are disproportionate to his known legitimate known sources of income, and have been obtained through corrupt conduct,” EACC said.

Court documents show that Mr Njoroge joined the ministry in January 2018 as a finance officer with a salary of Sh32,000. Before that, he was working at an non-governmental organisation earning a net salary of Sh27,000.

And apart from his salary, the official has allegedly received large sums of money from his employer.

The account has received a total of Sh79.7 million in the said period and now has a balance of Sh22.4 million. 

He received imprest of Sh3.9 million between March 2019 and March this year described as money for the purchase of snacks.

In March this year for example, he received Sh485,000 for purchase of the snacks but the money was never withdrawn from his account.

IFMIS reflects that on June 30, last year, he applied for imprest worth Sh6.5 million, and the funds were credited into his bank account on various dates. 

The commission moved to court arguing that he might withdraw the funds in light of the ongoing investigations, hence defeating the purposes of the investigations. 

“The investigations are likely to take some time given the time period for which the investigation is being carried on, the colossal amount of funds involved, the multiplicity of transactions, and the possible numerous illegal acts or offenses involved,” the anti-graft agency told the court.

Justice Ogembo prohibited the transfer, withdrawal, or dealing with the funds for six months. The case will be mentioned May 9.