A procurement officer at the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco) is set to lose 40 developed homes, 8 luxury cars, and Sh. 58.5 million, and agricultural farms he has allegedly amassed from bribes and kickbacks.
According to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), the officer whose was identified as Peter Maina Njehia has amassed the wealth over an 11 year period. However, his wealth does not match his income. According to documents filed in court by the EACC, Njehia’s salary between 2010 and March 2021 stood at Sh. 35.7 million, plus imprest amounting to Sh. 4.48 million.
The Ketraco officer’s wealth empire includes rental apartments, farms for commercial agriculture and townhouses spread in Nairobi, Nakuru and Nyandarua counties. “An analysis of the preliminary investigations has raised reasonable suspicion that considering the respondent’s salary, large and frequent deposits into his bank accounts, shares and deposits in his SACCO account are disproportionate to his legitimate known sources of income and could have been obtained through corrupt conduct,” the EACC told the High Court.
The EACC got the green light from the High Court to freeze his Sacco accounts where he has kept some Sh. 58.5 million. The accounts shall remain frozen for a period of six months. The frozen funds include Sh. 25.4 million worth of shares in two accounts at Stima Sacco, Sh. 10 million shares in Unaitas, another Sh. 8.2 million shares in a different account at Unaitas and Sh. 930,000 in a dividend account at Unaitas.
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“The respondent has illegally and irregularly engaged in the influence and award of tenders, procurement and payment of goods and services, which has seen him abuse his office, receive bribes, embezzle public funds and engage in corrupt conduct,” the EACC said in the petition filed at the High court. “There are reasonable grounds to suspect that the respondent herein has accumulated assets disproportionate to his known legitimate source of income and money in the listed SACCO accounts should be preserved pending completion of the subject investigations.”