A photo of Nancy Kigunzu believed to be 'Mathe wa Ngara' after she was arrested in Nairobi CBD on August 21, 2023.
Several plots, cars and an apartment in Juja, Kiambu County, belonging to suspected drug trafficker Nancy Indiveria Kigunzu, popularly known as Mathe wa Ngara, are being targeted for forfeiture to the state.
The Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) has obtained court orders blocking Ms Kigunzu and her associates from selling, transferring or dealing with the properties over suspicion that they were obtained from the illegal trade in narcotic drugs.
High Court judge Benjamin Musyoki issued orders prohibiting her and the associates from dealing with properties in Juja-Kalimoni owned by Ms Kigunzu and registered in the name of George Jumba Inguti, another plot in the same area registered in the names of Mr Inguti and Scolastica Wambui Kibathi.
The court also blocked her from dealing with an apartment known as Georgina in Juja-Kalimoni in Kiambu County, four other parcels of land in Juja registered in her name and those of Inguti, and three parcels of land in Chavakali, Vihiga County.
“That an order is hereby issued directing the Chief Land Registrar to register a caveat against the records of the properties specified,” the judge said.
The woman was also blocked from selling or transferring three cars and was directed to surrender the logbooks to the agency, within seven days.
The order freezing the properties will remain in force for 90 days.
Through lawyer Bernard Gitonga, the agency said Ms Kigunzu registered the properties in the names of her associates or mules to conceal the source of the funds.
The agency said it began investigations against Ms Kigunzu after she was arrested last year and charged with trafficking in narcotic drugs.
The police later raided the apartment in Juja and recovered drugs and assorted items from a room labelled “control room” and arrested more suspects.
Among the items recovered were rent payment receipts, passports and a Qatari Airways boarding pass, vaccination certificates and visa application.
“Investigations established that the 1st respondent acquired the assets using the proceeds from the illegitimate trade in narcotic drugs and registered them under her name and the names of her proxies to conceal and disguise the source of the funds used to procure the said assets,” Mr Gitonga said.
The agency said her conduct of constantly changing the assets and transferring and registering them under the names of her associates and mules, was an indication of her effort to conceal the benefits derived from the illegal trade.
In April, the High Court declared Sh13.4 million seized from her last year as proceeds of crime and ordered her to forfeit the money to the government.
High Court judge Esther Maina said Ms Kigunzu failed to explain the source of the funds or state why she kept huge sums of money in sacks rather than taking it to a bank where it would have been earning her interest.
The judge added that there was proof that police officers recovered a substance from her residence which was later found to be cannabis sativa, a narcotic substance whose possession, use and trafficking is an offence.
“It is also not disputed that the police found three persons in the residence in circumstances that suggest that they were mules used in trafficking the illegal substance,” said the judge.
