Ruto's Running Mate Rigathi Gachagua Loses Sh200 Million Unexplained Wealth to Gov't

Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua has lost Sh200 million to the government following a High Court order.

On Thursday, Justice Esther Maina ruled that the first-term MP failed to explain and prove how he obtained the funds from government agencies.

"Indeed he admitted he received from government agencies...there was nothing to show of the contract has had been awarded a tender by that ministry...," judge Maina ruled.

Justice Maina noted that there was no evidence that Gachagua, who is Deputy President William Ruto's running mate in the August 9th presidential election, executed the contract in order to obtain the funds. The court further rejected the argument that the Sh200 was in a fixed account.

The money held in three bank accounts at Rafiki Microfinance Bank was frozen in 2020 following an application filed by the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) which argued that Gachagua could not explain the source of the funds. One of the accounts is holding Sh165 million while the other two have Sh35 million and Sh773,228 respectively. 

In its forfeiture application, ARA dismissed Gachagua’s claims that he obtained the money through loans, adding that a total of Sh7.3 billion and Sh12.5 billion in debit and credit transactions respectively were made through the three accounts between 2013 and 2020.

“Submissions by the respondents do not explain any legitimate source of the funds in issue and there is no linkage between the alleged “loans” acquired or guaranteed for the funds in issue. The alleged “loans” are just decoys of money laundering to mislead this honorable court,” ARA said in court documents.

ARA further submitted that there are no documents to support Gachagua’s claims that he and businesswoman Anne Kimemia, the second respondent in the case, transferred funds from companies to their accounts for trade.

“This is because the companies are legal entities that can enter into agreements with other entities including the shareholders or directors and there is no existence of such agreements between the respondents and the companies,” ARA added.

ARA launched investigations against Gachagua after it received information on suspected money-laundering schemes. Rigathi is suspected of using proxies to obtain contracts through fraud by using 22 companies, with him as the sole beneficiary.

The funds came from the Kenya Informal Settlements Programme, State Department for Special Planning, Ministry of Health, Bungoma County government, Mathira Constituency Development Fund, Nyeri County government, and the National Irrigation Board.