Nairobi News

Suspended Nairobi County Chief Finance Officer James Kiamba, whose accounts were frozen over alleged corruption, has objected to the extension of orders blocking him from accessing his millions.

Mr Kiamba said the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) had not given any evidence linking him to fraud.

The commission, however, said the assets had been preserved in the national interest because there were still doubts over the way the millions of shillings and other assets were acquired.

The commission said it was important to ascertain that there were no corrupt deals involved in acquiring the wealth.

CANNOT BE STARVING

The anti-corruption agency’s lawyer, Mr David Ruto, said Mr Kiamba cannot claim to be starving when he enjoys rental income that he collects.

He further said the suspended official has other sources of income.

Mr Kiamba, who is accused of stealing Sh400 million from the county government, said the agency should have come up with evidence linking him to corruption after getting orders in November 2014 to freeze his accounts.

“What evidence will the EACC come up with now after failing to present any over six months after they were granted orders to preserve the property?

“The fact that they have failed to come up with anything up to now is an indication that the whole thing was driven by malice,” said Mr Philip Nyachoti, Mr Kiamba’s lawyer.

Mr Nyachoti was making his submissions before Justice Msagha Mbogholi in an application by the EACC to extend orders freezing the accounts of Mr Kiamba by six months as investigations into how he acquired the wealth continue.

EACC IS TAINTED

The lawyer said the commission could no longer be trusted to carry out meaningful investigations because it had been tainted by malpractices that led to the resignation of its members and the appointment of a tribunal to conduct an inquiry into alleged corruption by two of them.

“The EACC is only relying on a mere belief that my client is corrupt but there are no hard facts to prove this.

“The law is very clear that one has to provide evidence to prove corruption allegations and not mere talk. Up to now, we have not been shown any document detailing what the EACC has uncovered for the time it has been investigating the matter,” said Mr Nyachoti.

But Mr Ruto told the court that there was ample evidence linking Mr Kiamba to fraud, arguing that there have been transactions involving millions of shillings in his various bank accounts.

The judge will rule on the matter next Thursday.

SOURCE: Daily Nation