Court Freezes A Ketraco’s Employee Account Holding Sh58M

A senior manager at Ketraco has suffered a setback after Sh58 million in his bank account was frozen.

Justice Esther N. Maina froze various bank accounts belonging to Peter Maina Njehia with total amount of Sh 58,601,915.9.

The court blocked Njehia from transferring or withdrawing money including Sh13, 557,385. 00 which is being held as share capital at stima sacco ltd, Sh11, 913,750.00 being held as deposit at Alpa, stima sacco, Sh10 million held in the shares account among others held in the name of Peter Njehia.

Justice Maina issued the orders following an urgent application filed by the EACC which argued that the money could be proceeds of crime.

The court orders have stopped Maina from withdrawing, or transacting in the said amounts until further orders of the court.

Eacc said it had been investigating Peter Maina Njehia , over claims he illegally and irregularly influenced tenders, procurement and payment of goods and services while serving as a senior manager, supply chain at Ketraco.

The Commission obtained a warrant to investigate Njehia’s bank account and searching his premises.

“There is therefore need to preserve the funds and freeze the account for a period of six months pending the conclusion of investigations and institution of recovery proceedings”, commission added.

EACC added that it was apprehensive that Njehia, in light of the on-going investigations, will in the intervening period continue withdrawing, transferring or disposing money in order to defeat the course of justice, before the Commission has completed its investigations and commenced recovery proceedings, unless the Orders sought are granted.

The commission told the court there was need to preserve the funds and freeze the account for a period of six months pending the conclusion of investigations and institution of recovery proceedings.

It is now evident through the preliminary investigations that the Respondent is in possession of unexplained wealth which is not commensurate to his known legitimate sources of income and specifically his salary as a public officer.

“An analysis of the preliminary investigations has raised reasonable suspicion that considering the respondent’s salary, large and frequent deposits into his bank accounts, shares and deposits in his SACCO account are disproportionate to his legitimate known sources of income and could have been obtained through corrupt conduct”, adds the commission.

The Commission is currently investigating Njehia’s close family members, including his spouse Julie Hellen Matu together with companies and properties associated with them and whom are suspected that Njehia could have channeled proceeds of corruption to their bank, SACCO and investment accounts and the Commission shall be filing an application seeking to freeze their accounts and properties in due course.