Nairobi News

Suspended Nairobi County Chief Finance Officer James Mutuku Kiamba can now access his bank accounts after the court dismissed an application by the anti-corruption body to extend orders blocking him from withdrawing his money.

High Court Judge Msagha Mbogholi said the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) failed to justify the need for an extension after failing to provide any evidence of fraud, seven months after getting orders to freeze Kiamba’s accounts.

CASUAL INVESTIGATIONS

The judge also castigated the graft body for the casual manner in which it handled the investigations saying that the EACC had started off on the wrong footing when it failed to serve the orders to the respondent when they were granted the same in November 2014.

This failure was prejudicial and the investigations have not uncovered anything new and therefore any prayer to extend the order hinted at oppression.

“The order cannot therefore be extended without resultant injustice on the part of the respondent and have come to the conclusion that the application must fail and dismissed with costs,” the judge said.

Lawyer Philip Nyachoti, for Mr Kiamba, had told the court that the county official only learned that his accounts had been frozen after he was unable to access them.

Mr Nyachoti objected to the extension of orders freezing the accounts saying EACC had not given any evidence linking him to fraud.

‘MALICE’

“The fact that they have not been able to come up with anything up to now is an indication that the whole thing was driven by malice,” argued Mr Nyachoti.

In their submissions, EACC lawyers had told the judge that the officer who was supposed to serve the orders on Kiamba had discontinued his service.

EACC’s lawyer David Ruto told the court that there was ample evidence linking Mr Kiamba to fraud.

He argued that there have been transactions involving millions of shillings in his various bank accounts.

Mr Ruto said EACC will appeal against the ruling.

SOURCE: Daily Nation