Mandera County Gov't Official Ordered to Forfeit Sh62 Million to the State

The High Court has ordered a Mandera county government official and his wife to forfeit Sh62 million held in their bank accounts.

This comes after Justice Mumbi Ngugi ruled that the funds deposited in two Equity Bank accounts are proceeds of crime and theft at the county government.

Justice Ngugi noted that Abdi Mohamed Ali, who is the Director of Livestock in Mandera County, failed to explain how he earned the money deposited in the accounts between June 2014 and January 2020. During the period, he received Sh9.9 million as salary from the county government.

The deposits were made in tranches of between Sh50,000 and Sh5 million in the joint accounts with his wife Saadia Sheikh Osman. They withdrew Sh10.4 million during that period.

No withdrawal was made from one of the accounts holding Sh21.4 million until the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) obtained orders freezing the accounts last year.

Justice Ngugi said Abdi and his wife failed to provide any evidence to show they were engaged in any business that would generate the amount of money deposited in the accounts.

The court found that there was nothing to support Abdi’s claims that he was a livestock trader and a beekeeper. There was also nothing to support his wife’s claims that she was in the business of selling clothes from Dubai.

“The respondents have not been able to demonstrate that they have a legitimate source of these funds. Such funds are therefore not protected under the constitutional guarantee in Article 40. The forfeiture does not violate the constitutionally guaranteed protection of property,” Justice Ngugi ruled.

“The only conclusion that can be arrived at is that the funds are proceeds of crime as defined in Pocamla [the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act] and are therefore liable to forfeiture to the State.”