The High court has granted the Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission (EACC) orders to freeze Kes 216.3 million assets belonging to a manager at Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Limited. (KETRACO).

In the court’s ruling, Lady Justice Esther Maina said the Commission had established a prima facie- a legal claim in which the evidence ahead of a trial is overwhelming enough to prove the case.

The judge ruled in favor of EACC to preserve the assets pending the hearing and determination of the forfeiture suit.

This follows an investigation of allegations of unexplained wealth, unethical conduct, bribery, and conflict of interest against a supply manager.

Investigations undertaken by EACC established that between January 2010 and March 2021, the man was reasonably suspected of engaging in corruption.

The manager is alleged to have acquired assets worth Kes 278 million against his known total legitimate income of Kes 40.2 million for the said period.

Further, the Commission’s investigations established that at the time of acquiring these assets, the suspect had received funds from individuals and institutions that had secured tenders with his employer.

In one instance, EACC said a company that KETRACO had awarded a tender deposited Kes 3 million in two bank accounts belonging to the suspect.

In addition, EACC said during the execution of the search at his premises in Nairobi, Kes 1,020,000 in cash was seized from his motor vehicle that could not be reasonably ascertained.

The Commission issued a notice to the suspect to explain the disproportion in his assets with his known legitimate source(s) of income.

“The commission received a response on May 17, 2022, which response was considered, and after analysis, a cumulative asset of the value of Kes 21,432,587 was found to have been satisfactorily explained, leaving out an unexplained disproportion of Kes 216,374,181,” EACC said.

Following his inability to explain the source of assets worth Kes. 216,374,181.94, the Commission said it issued the suspect a demand notice on September 14 requiring the suspect to remit the unexplained assets to the agency for return to the public.