Former Nairobi County Chief Finance Officer Jimmy Kiamba in court. Courtesy
Former Nairobi County Chief Finance Officer Jimmy Kiamba has been ordered to forfeit Sh317 million of unexplained assets to the State or risk his Runda home auctioned.
“I therefore declare that the total sum of the, money indicated to be unexplained assets,” the judge ruled.
Justice Hedwig Ogundi found that the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Court had established a case against Kiamba.
According to the judge, it was evident that Kiamba was in possession of assets whose value was disproportionate to his known sources of income.
“The upshot of my analysis is that the commission has established on a balance of probability that the cash deposits which Kiamba tried to explain through the revenue collection constitutes unexplained assets,” she said.
Jimmy Kiamba. Courtesy
According to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) Investigating Officer James Kariuki, Mr. Kiamba used a driver attached to him as well as a security guard to make questionable deposits into his bank account.
Mr. Kariuki had testified that between August 2009 and February 2015, Mr. Kiamba’s legitimate source of income was analyzed in three columns, adding that in five years he had earned Ksh.8.5 million and took home Ksh. 5.8 million after deduction.
The investigator had also revealed how a security guard was used to deposit over Ksh.66 million in Mr. Kiamba’s account.
The judge said it is not in dispute that Kiamba was a public servant during the period of interest. His highest salary in his position as at January 2015 was Sh145,320.
From the bank statements and list of properties presented in court, Kiamba’s wealth was slightly above Sh1 billion.
“This was a state of affairs that required an explanation. I am therefore convinced from the totality of the evidence that commission’s suspicion of corruption or economic crime having been committed by Kiamba was reasonable hence the investigation,” she said.
In 2016, KRA had increased Kiamba’s tax arrears from Sh98 million to Sh262 million.
KRA wanted Kiamba to pay unpaid taxes for years 2007 to 2013.
The court froze his Sh400 million assets, following a disagreement on how KRA could claim the arrears.