Gachagua Gets Back His Sh202 Million Seized by the Government
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua will get back the Sh202 million he was ordered to forfeit to the government last year.
This is after the Appeals Court set aside a High Court ruling that ordered Gachagua to forfeit the money after he failed to explain and prove how he obtained the funds from various government agencies and Bungoma County.
"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...," Justice Esther Maina ruled in July last year
The judge noted that there was no evidence that Gachagua executed the contract in order to obtain the funds. The court further rejected the argument that the Sh202 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.
But in the Court of Appeal, ARA backed Gachagus’s appeal against the ruling, saying it has since established that the funds are not proceeds of crime as earlier alleged.
ARA further told the court that it never investigated claims by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) that Gachagua obtained the money fraudulently from various State institutions and the Bungoma County government.
The institutions include the Kenya Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Eradication Council (Kenttec), the State Department of ASALs and Regional Development, Kenya Power, the State Department of Lands and Physical Planning, and the Bungoma government.
The court heard that when the DCI raised the claim, ARA moved and seized the wealth without conducting its own probe.
Justices Daniel Musinga, Imana Laibuta and Ngenye Macharia have adopted an agreement signed between ARA and Gachagua’s attorneys to settle the matter.
Consequently, the judges vacated orders of the High Court that had declared the funds to be proceeds of crime.
Comments (17)
Mwizi ni yule yule.
Our leaders are like cockroaches. They are all at it.The only difference being that the uhuru admin investigated, arrested and charged people. Whereas the Ruto seems good at hiding, deflecting and and trying to change the rules so that his cronies can escape scrutiny.
The narrative being sold to the common mwananchi is that Ruto and Gachagua are Angeles, regardless of the clear eveidence they are thugs.
The guy can't even show how he got the money The people of Nyeri can now celebrate with nyama rice and sodas. That what they define as bottom up economy.
In a court of law, the defendant is innocent until proven guilty. The defendant does not have to explain anything. The mess we are in is due to the conduct of Uhuru's team in last year of his presidency. Most of them turned to campaigning. For Gachagua's case, a judgement was done without a hearing. The judge indicated that she had all the evidence that she needed and did not need to hold a hearing. A big mistake, even if for one hour, the judge should have scheduled and conducted a hearing.
And the loser is ...... THE TAX PAYER! Elections have consequences and Kenyans will pay through the nose for the mega-corruption by the Ruto regime
@Francis I don't feel sorry for my fellow Kenyans. They enjoyed sweet campaign promises and voted for two corrupt individuals. Now is pay back time
Good god!!!!! What kind of justice is this???? One for the rich and connected the one for the ordinary folks. Poor Wananchi!!!!!! The fleecing of Kenya continues unabated!. And so it goes.
To expect Gachagua to be "punished" is to expect a police chief to be ticketed by traffic police constable ...
Of course....
The mwananchi will still vote for the thugs again, Gachagua was given time by the court to clarify how he got the 200M, and he still can not explain, the kawaida mwananchi ni mjinga kupindukia. We will need a revolution to defeat these corrupt evil people.
A simple google search of the word kleptocracy shows it's a government by people who use their power to steal their country's resources. That is the Ruto administration my fellow Kenyans.
Tulijulishwa wazi kabisa tusichaguwe wezi sasa vumiriani muembiwe..lol!
Ruto surrounding himself with all the corrupt Mt Kenya politicians like Gachagua, Waruingi, et al is a strategic move for reelection in 2027!
He knows Kikuyus will not vote for him come 2027, he is going to use these stupid “leaders” to rubbish their tribe telling all the other tribes that Kikuyus are greedy, corrupt, etc.
These will leave the Kikuyus isolated and looking for a presidential candidate, preferably from their tribe, who will most likely not garner any support outside of Central!
Kikuyus will have been roasted in their own oil; just like cooking a pig!!
As long as Kenyans see theft as aspirational, we will continue to vote these crooks into office. Reject corruption!!
Rikathi’s wife is a preacher who tolerates corruption. She goes to bed with the most corrupt DP in the history of Kenya. Folks, Kenyans are royally screwed by these thieves.
Rigathi is a "deputy hustler."