Former Finance manager Stanley Mombo Amuti who served at the National Water Corporation(NW & PC) and Pipeline Conservation caught the attention of the authorities after it emerged the official could not explain how he got millions within very few months between 1992 and 2008.
In 2017 Justice Lydia Achode ruled in favour of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) after the commission moved to the High Court to compel Amuti to pay State Sh140 million being bank deposits he had accumulated through alleged fraudulent means and a further Sh32 million being the value of unexplained assets he held.
The anti-corruption agency claimed he had acquired the monies within nine months but the court only established that he could not account for the monies in cash.
Amuti appealed the government’s seizure of Sh 41.2 million on suspicion the money was proceeds of crime.
In the appeal before a Bench of three judges, Mr Stanley Mombo Amuti said the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) had failed to give him notice and state the period of inquiry when the suspected property was acquired.
Well in current report, the Court of Appeal’s decision against former National Water Conservation and Pipeline Corporation Finance Manager Stanley Mombo Amuti has set a precedent that all “unexplained assets” should be handed over to the Government.
According to Court of Appeal Judges Phillip Waki, Gatembu Kairu and Otieno Odek, although he had never been charged or convicted of corruption or abuse of office, he had an obligation to explain how he acquired every coin.
“We are satisfied that the appellant (Amuti) did not offer satisfactory explanation as to the source of admitted sum of Sh 15.5 million from the alleged Sudanese national; the source of Sh1 million allegedly for community electricity project, the source of Sh 10.9 million and the source of Sh 9.5 million for sale of properties,” the court ruled.
EACC, then known as the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) began investigating Amuti on July 12, 2008 when they wrote to him requiring an explanation of the source of his wealth that included several parcels of land in Nairobi and Ngong, motor vehicles, cheques and cash deposits and cash that were disproportionate to his declared source of income. He earned a net monthly salary of Sh180, 031.
The ex-manager told the court that he had worked for 25 years and saved enough while the extra cash was from the estates of his late father which he was an administrator