Nairobi News

HustleNews

Kidero in court to stop fresh probe into personal bank accounts


Nairobi governor Evans Kidero has gone to court seeking to stop investigations into his personal bank accounts for a 10-year period part of which he served as Mumias Sugar Company’s managing director.

Dr Kidero has sued acting Capital Markets Authority together with its acting Chief Executive Paul Muthaura, the Director of Public Prosecution, the Inspector General and the Attorney General.

In his case documents, he argued that the probe on his bank accounts is aimed at intimidating him, terming the move as political harassment using government agencies to humiliate as well as degrade him in the eyes of his would be voters.

He faulted the fact that he was the only one singled out from the entire board.

INVESTIGATIONS

Through his lawyer, Prof Tom Ojienda, Dr Kidero claimed that CMA as well as its auditors wrote to him twice in 2015 seeking to understand the governance practices of his former employer during his tenure as its MD between 2002 to 2012 with a view of resuscitating the failing company and getting the best way of managing it.

He claimed that he agreed to these meetings, which involved independent forensic investigations of the sugar miller, and denies ever being questioned on any alleged fraudulent act of illegally transferring the company’s funds into his personal bank accounts or asked to give details on them.

According to Dr Kidero, the auditors terminated their contract with CMA saying that the regulator had complained that the investigations had not been done in a manner which the authority wanted.

He claimed that the Authority also failed to communicate back to him. Two years later, CMA’s investigators sought to have another meeting with him but also did not ask him to provide them with his bank details when he met them.

RE-ELECTION

And on July 20, CMA directed the Banking Fraud Investigation Unit and the National Police Service to probe all his personal bank accounts from year 2006-2016 through a letter dated June 12.

He argued that the move is unlawful because he was never given prior notice and that the matter has come up only few days before the August 8 General election is held, where he is seeking a re-election.

“CMA has illegally, unilaterally, in a blatant show of bad faith and in a politically orchestrated move made a decision to allegedly investigate all his personal bank accounts,” said Prof Ojienda.

He now wants the court to suspend the fresh probe on grounds that it is merely aimed at de-popularizing him in the eyes of his voters.