Court declines to unfreeze Sh643m assets in graft case against county staff

The anti-corruption court in Milimani has declined a request to unfreeze assets linked to a Nairobi County junior employee.  Wilson Kanani was accused of corruption for accumulating unexplained wealth.

Justice Nixon Sifuna declined to discharge the interim orders thereby dismissing the respondents' application.

He further directed that the previous orders by Justice Esther Maina to have the wealth frozen shall continue to abide by until the matter gets to its logical conclusion.

Wilson Kanani, a development control officer II at the urban planning department of Nairobi City County Government, earning a monthly gross salary of Sh88,530, and a net of S55,866 monthly is alleged to have accumulated assets whose value is above his known legitimate sources of income.

According to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), the assets include four high-end motor vehicles; Toyota Land Cruiser V8, Mercedes Benz E 300, Mercedes Benz E350 and Toyota Alphard which were all acquired in a span of only five years.

Also acquired during the same five-year period are an apartment in Nairobi valued at Sh6.5 million, a house in Busia valued at Sh11.2 million and land in Naivasha valued at Sh3.5 million.

The Commission found that Kanani allegedly abused the position of trust he was occupying at the Nairobi City County Government by receiving revenue meant for the Nairobi City County Government through bank accounts held by his private companies and spouse.

His bank statements revealed that there were companies that were crediting huge sums of money into his bank accounts and those of companies associated with him.

The companies allegedly paying into his bank accounts include Live Ad Limited, Firm Bridge Limited, Ikon Prints Media Limited, Parrot Concepts Limited and De-signtech Enterprises Limited Media-max Network Limited.

Kanani, a co-director at Club 1824 was seeking to recover the frozen wealth that the anti-graft body wants forfeited to the state, once he is found guilty of graft.

"Officers of the Commission during a search conducted in his premises, recovered cash amounting to Sh898,000 from his house which is suspected to have been acquired through corruption," a statement from EACC said.

The anti-graft body further found that the public officer was previously convicted of a corruption offence involving soliciting bribes while performing the same duties with the defunct city council of Nairobi.