NYS scandal: Freedom nears as DCI gives Gethi's Sh291 million wealth clean bill of health
Businessman Ben Gethi, who was linked to the Sh791 million loss at the National Youth Service when he appeared before National Assembly Public Accounts Committee on October 4, 2016. DCI has legitimised the wealth acquired by his mother Charity Wangui Gethi from the NYS deals.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has legitimised the wealth acquired by Ms Charity Wangui Gethi using millions of shillings from the Sh791 million National Youth Service (NYS) scandal nine years ago.
In documents filed by Ms Wangui at the High Court in Milimani Nairobi, the DCI and the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) have also clashed over allegations that the wealth was acquired from proceeds of crime and corruption at the NYS.
While the ARA believes the wealth is from proceeds of crime and should be forfeited to the state, DCI findings indicate that the wealth is clean, having been acquired from money rightfully paid by NYS.
The wealth at the centre of the dispute includes five prime assets suspected to have been bought using funds siphoned from the government-owned youth training institution in 2014 during former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s first term.
ARA filed a forfeiture suit in March 2016, seeking to recover the properties in Nairobi’s Muthaiga North and Rosslyn estates, land in Thika, Eden Times Restaurant on the ground floor or Mercury building on Moi Avenue, Nairobi, and a Range Rover Vogue.
According to court papers, the DCI detectives found that the properties were acquired using funds rightfully paid by NYS to Horizon Ltd, a company owned by Ms Wangui’s son Ben Gethi, after a legitimate business.
The properties that ARA is targeting are valued at Sh291,513,000 and it wants them forfeited to the government because it believes they are proceeds of crime.
Eden Times Restaurant
Rosslyn estate is worth Sh63,513,000, the land in Thika Sh35 million, Eden Times Restaurant (Sh20 million), Muthaiga North plot (Sh45 million) and Sh128 million in Ms Wangui's Faulu (Old Mutual) account.
The properties are registered in the names of Ms Wangui, her daughter Jedidah Wangari Wangui, John Kago Ndung’u and a lawyer, Patrick Onyango Ogolla. All the properties were bought by Mr Kago with funds received from Ms Wangui, court papers indicate.
Ms Wangui said she was a beneficiary of money paid by NYS to Horizon Ltd and that she used the funds to buy the properties in question. Her son Gethi is also a suspect in the NYS corruption scandal and he is battling a separate court case.
Ms Wangui and her daughter on Tuesday fought attempts by ARA to recover the wealth and filed fresh evidence in court in a bid to prove that the wealth is legitimate.
The basis of their fight to save the properties is a finding by the DCI that the money used by Ms Wangui to purchase the assets was obtained from a company, Horizon Limited, after doing business with NYS.
She said the DCI found that "services were rendered by Horizon Limited and payments were rightful."
She said another finding was that she was a beneficiary of the funds paid to the company as reflected in bank statements checked by investigators and that taxes due to the Kenya Revenue Authority were remitted on the amounts received by Horizon Limited.
The said investigations involved transactions between the company and NYS in 2014 in which the firm was awarded a tender to supply diesel and was paid Sh245,279,765.
"Investigations by DCI aimed to establish whether the tender award to Horizon Limited was regular, whether the company made the supply and whether the payment to it was lawful," said Ms Wangui in her court papers.
She said that she learned about the DCI’s findings in October last year after enquiring about the outcome of the investigation.
The DCI’s finding was also captured in a letter dated May 8, 2017, to the DPP, following investigations into the scandal.
Together with her son Gethi and George Kuvika, both of whom are directors of the company, the three were named as persons of interest in the investigation.
In an affidavit, Ms Wangui further claimed that Horizon Limited was not involved in fraudulent or illegal business and all its dealings with NYS were above board.
DCI concluded that all the payments to the company were authentic/genuine and indeed services were rendered to NYS and payments were rightful, she said.
In addition, she said DCI investigators recommended that the file be closed with no further police action.
She said the outcome of the investigations and the recommendations were communicated to the DPP via a letter dated May 8, 2017.
"Upon reviewing the said letter, DPP wrote back to the DCI through a letter dated March 27, 2018, confirming that he was satisfied with the investigations, the findings and recommendations made," Ms Wangui stated.
She obtained the information after advocates of the company wrote to the DCI on October 21, 2022, requesting the investigation report since no formal communication had been made previously.
Based on the DCI report, Ms Wangui asked the court to find that the money used to purchase the properties was from a legitimate source and that the same has been corroborated by the evidence from the police who carried out the investigations.
Legitimate business
She wants the court to dismiss the case filed by ARA and lift the preservation orders issued freezing all the properties.
"Ms Wangui and Ms Wangari have demonstrated that the said company did legitimate business with NYS and paid for services rendered. The amount paid was sufficient to acquire the properties in question," the court documents indicate.
An accountant expert hired by Ms Wangui, Dr Njoroge Obadiah Kimani, in a report filed in court by Ms Wangui said that there was a conflict in the investigation of the funds by ARA and DCI.
ARA through its former Director Muthoni Kimani stated that investigations were necessitated by the NYS scam amount of Sh791,385,000 while an investigating officer, Corporal Sautet Jeremiah Matipei, said the amount was Sh800 million.
According to cash deposit slips tabled in court, Mr Kago carried out transactions worth Sh163 million on different days past midnight between March 16 and April 23, 2015.
For example, on April 23 Mr Kago deposited Sh40 million at 0642 hours and Sh35 million on the same date 0641 hours.
On March 16, 2015, at 0415 hours he deposited Sh20 million and another Sh40 million at 0128 hours.
Further, Mr Kago deposited Sh14 million on April 10 at 0120 hours and a similar amount on April 15 at 0144 hours.
"All the deposits made are in cash form and the time is past midnight to dawn. It is common knowledge that Family Bank KTDA branch does not operate those hours," said Mr Obadiah in his report.
