Kenyan Court Freezes Sh257 Million Property Owned by a Prison Cleaner Who Earns Sh20,000 Monthly

High Court judge Esther Maina has frozen assets worth Sh257 million belonging to a junior employee at the Kenya Prisons department.

The judge froze the assets owned by Eric Kipkurui, a cleaning supervisor at the State Department of Corrections, following an application filed by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).

EACC argues that Kipkurui fraudulently acquired the multi-million-shilling property that includes land valued at Sh57 million and motor vehicles worth 30.5 million.

"THAT an order of prohibition be and is hereby issued prohibiting the Respondents jointly and severally, by themselves, their agents, servants or any other persons from transferring, disposing of, or in any other way dealing with the properties listed below pending conclusion of investigations by the Commission," ruled Justice Maina.

"THAT an order be and is hereby issued requiring the 1st Respondent to surrender Motor Vehicles Registration numbers KCH 360G, KCL 050T, KCH 593S, KCL 125R, KCN 475L, KCN 417B, KCL 778P together with their logbooks to the Applicant within 7 days of this order failing which the Applicant shall be at liberty to seize, tow and detain the Motor Vehicles for purposes of preservation."

Preliminary investigations by EACC revealed that Kipkurui, who earns Sh20,800 per month, is a sole proprietor of seven business names registered between 2012 and 2016.

It is alleged that he used the companies as conduits for the illegal acquisition of Sh257 million from the State Department of Corrections through fictitious contracts for the supply of food and ration and received payments for goods that were never supplied.

EACC says Kipkurui purchased pieces of land and motor vehicles through the funds. The parcels of land in question are situated in Nairobi, Kericho, and Nyaribari Chache (Kisii).

The anti-graft agency argues that Kipkurui’s monthly income does not tally with his multi-million-shilling empire.

"The properties so purchased constitute proceeds of corrupt conduct or corruption which the Applicant is mandated to seek recovery or forfeiture of from the 1st Respondent," EACC says in court documents.

The case will be mentioned on October 25th, 2022.