EACC freezes unexplained assets worth Ksh.216M belonging to senior KETRACO manager

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has obtained orders from the High Court to freeze assets worth over Ksh.216 million belonging to a senior employee at the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Limited (KETRACO).

A source close to the State agency told Citizen Digital that EACC moved to court after investigating allegations of unexplained wealth, unethical conduct, bribery and conflict of interest against Peter Maina Njehia, KETRACO’s Senior Manager, Supply Chain.

In a ruling delivered on November 24, 2022, Lady Justice Esther Maina agreed that the commission had established a prima facie case with a probability of success to warrant the issue of injunction orders pending the hearing and determination of the forfeiture proceedings.

EACC, in its investigations, learnt that between January 2010 and March 2021, Mr. Njehia acquired assets worth Ksh.278,049,625.39 against his known total legitimate income of Ksh.40,242,855.99 for the said period.

The assets were set out as follows; value of landed properties (Ksh.88,910,000), cost of motor vehicles (Ksh. 21,600,000), bank deposits (Ksh. 76,407,232), cash credited into M-Pesa accounts (Ksh.15,069,420).

His income from legitimate sources for the said period, EACC established, was net salary (Ksh. 35,764,757.92), and allowances (Ksh.4,478,098.07), totalling Ksh.40,242,855.99.

This legitimate income against the total assets, thereby put the net value of assets disproportion at Ksh.237,806,769.40.

According to the source, EACC investigations revealed that Mr. Njehia had received funds from individuals and institutions that had secured tenders with KETRACO.

For instance, Ksh.3 million is said to have been deposited in two bank accounts belonging to Mr. Njehia’s spouse by Sieyuan Electric Company Limited, which had been awarded a tender by KETRACO.

Similarly, he reportedly received Ksh.400,000 and Ksh.85,000 from Jooyato Surveys Limited and its director Jacob Oyato, respectively, at a time when the said company had been awarded several contracts by KETRACO.

“During execution of search at his premises in Nairobi, an amount of Ksh.1,020, 000 in cash was seized from his motor vehicle. The source of the said cash could not be reasonably ascertained,” the source said.

“The Commission received a response on 17th May 2022 which response was considered and after analysis a cumulative assets of value of Ksh.21,432,587.46 was found to have been satisfactorily explained leaving out an unexplained disproportion of Ksh.216,374,181.94.”

They added: “Following his inability to explain the source of assets worth Ksh.216,374,181.94, the Commission on 14th September 2022 issued a demand notice requiring him to remit the above unexplained assets to the Commission for return to the public. He failed to comply with the demand to surrender the assets prompting the Commission to institute recovery proceedings.”