Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu Under Probe over Suspicious Sh320 Million Wired to Her Bank Accounts

Detectives are investigating Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu over Sh320 million suspiciously wired to her bank accounts between 2013 and 2016.

The transaction of huge amounts of cash to the country's second-top judge accounts raised suspicions that she could be involved in money laundering, reports The Star.

"The nature of the identified account transactions and properties indicate a high possibility of fraud and money laundering," the Star quotes a report by investigators.

On March 16th 2016, a few months before she was appointed judge of the Supreme Court, Mwilu allegedly purchased a piece of land LR3734/1129 from Mutunga and Company for Sh2.8 million.

Two months later, the Lady Justice reportedly received Sh75 million from Forest Japan Hospital after selling the land to them and a further Sh74 million from an unidentified client.

"Theoretically, this implies that the subject bought the property at the price of Ksh2.8 million on 16 March 2016 from Justice Mutunga's company and sold it at a price of  Ksh75 million to Forest Japan Hospital and Ksh74 million to another unknown entity," the DCI documents read.

In 2013, the detectives established that the Deputy CJ sent Kibwezi West MP Patrick Musimba Sh15 million, an amount she said was a refund for a failed purchase. The payout was reflected in her bank transactions, but further scrutiny found no evidence of any payment from the MP to Mwilu.

The Supreme Court Judge further received Sh86 million in six instalments from Lucy Muthoni Magelo, wife to former Nairobi Speaker Alex Ole Magelo for an alleged purchase of property in Lavington.

She also got 95.6 million in cash and cheque deposits during the same period including a Sh40 million from Raei Investments Ltd and paid Sh56 million to Waruhiu and Company Advocates and an additional 35 million to Imperial Bank.

She was also found to have under-declared some assets registered under her name. "Some of the identified assets were also under-declared in the subsequent tax returns," the detectives noted of Mwilu's failure to file her tax returns in 2016 as required by the law.

On August 15th 2013, the investigators further established that Mwilu applied for Sh80 million loan from the collapsed Imperial Bank, which was approved within one week despite her not having an account with the lender.

In total breach of banking procedures, an Imperial bank staff wired what detectives described as mysterious Sh10 million to Mwilu's account on November 11th 2014.

The report says the judge owns at least seven houses in posh Kilimani estate, one along Argwings Kodhek Road, two off Ndemi Road and another in Athi River.