Lillian Omollo’s Wealth: In what is being by many Kenyans as a shocking and blatant, former Youth and Gender Affairs Principal Secretary Lilian Mbogo Omollo has claimed that she made over Sh. 40 million from selling cucumbers, tomatoes and watermelons in Siaya County.
This was revealed in a court session where the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) announced that it had flagged Sh. 40 million suspicious deposits that Ms. Omollo made in her bank accounts and those of her relatives.
These deposits made in batches of Sh. 900,000 and in some instances, to three different accounts on the same day to beat Central Bank of Kenya regulations which require depositors to make statements on amounts of Sh. 1 million and above.
Currently, Ms Omollo’s accounts have been frozen as investigations and court proceedings continue. The frozen bank accounts include six at Equity Bank registered under Lilian Muthoni Mbogo and other names.
“One account under her name had $67,331.9 (Sh. 6.7 million), another in the name of Lidi Estates Ltd $28,981 and another in the same bank and under the same name had Sh. 2.3 million. Another account had $8,979.83, another, still at Equity Bank in Ms Omollo’s name, had Sh. 1.68 million and an account trading as Sahara Consultants held at Diamond Trust Bank had Sh. 5.65 million, and three accounts registered in her children’s names had more than Sh. 11 million,” says a report that appeared in a local daily on Saturday.
Ms. Omollo claims that she has greenhouses where she farmed tomatoes, watermelons and cucumbers. She says that she started farming in Bondo five years ago together with her husband Dick Achieng Oneko.
Apparently, her husband would augment the farm sales with earnings from a consultancy firm known as Nile International in South Sudan. Ms. Omollo and her husband, however, failed to produce any receipts to show the sales but stated individuals bought the produce.
“Asked why they would sell products in Siaya and carry the money all the way to Nairobi as opposed to depositing them in the county, she said they would keep it in a safe in Nairobi before making the deposits. He said he was paid in cash and did not sign anywhere to back up the payments. And if that was true, he brought in cash into the country without declaring it at the entry point,” says the Daily Nation in a report.
It further says that documents filed in court state that the amounts were deposited between January 2016 and March. Ms Omollo was appointed PS for Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs on December 18, 2015.
“All the 10 accounts were operated by Ms Omollo on her own behalf and her children, and they suspect that the huge deposits are indicative of money laundering. For example, an account at Equity Bank, Community Branch, received at total of $79,000 between May 11, 2017 and August 25, 2017. The deposits were made on May 11, July 6, August 2, 7 and 25, all in US dollars, at a time when the country was in tense moments of electioneering period. On August 25, 2017, she made deposits in three different accounts of US dollars 10,000 and Sh. 900,000. On August 5, she made two deposits of US dollars 20,000 in two different accounts,” the paper reports.