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Sh1.2bn assets for Lands ministry official seized in graft probe
Mr Nicholas Owino Ochiel (inset), an assistant director in the Ministry of Lands. His Karen residence (pictured) is valued at Sh80 million.
The anti-corruption agency has received the court’s nod to temporarily seize and preserve wealth worth Sh1.2 billion belonging to a top official at the Ministry of Lands, pending determination of a suit on the legitimacy of his source of income.
In the orders issued by Justice Esther Maina, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has been allowed to seize the assets of Mr Nicholas Owino Ochiel, a senior assistant director of valuation at the Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning.
Among the frozen assets is Mr Ochiel’s Sh80 million Karen home and other multi-million-shilling properties spread across the country.
The targeted wealth is valued at Sh1,206,851,274, which EACC claims to be proceeds of bribery, corruption and other economic crimes over a period of 15 years from 2003.
In the suit, where the official is sued alongside his wife and brother, EACC claims that Mr Ochiel amassed the wealth through corrupt schemes and he used his two relatives as conduits to receive, hold and conceal funds acquired as a result of corrupt conduct.
Pending determination of the forfeiture suit, Mr Ochiel has been barred from dealing with the assets, including 17 pieces of land in Nairobi, Kajiado, Kisumu, Siaya and Ugunja, as well as an office space.
The interim order also bars Mr Ochiel from collecting or receiving monthly income from his 10 rental houses.
The seized assets include houses, land, cars and money in banks. The properties include Mr Ochiel’s Karen residence valued at Sh80 million, Ternic Court Apartments and Thome Estate valued at Sh130 million and an undeveloped plot on Parklands Road, Nairobi, valued at Sh100 million.
Also seized is his Ugunja Commercial Building on the Kisumu-Busia Road valued at Sh190 million, four plots in Kisumu Municipality and Lolwe Estate worth Sh108.5 million and a house in Mirema, Nairobi, worth Sh23 million.
In addition, EACC has seized his other property in Lolwe Kisumu, Red House, valued at Sh15.5 million.
EACC sued the official alongside his wife Terry Violet Muthoni Maina, his companies Ternic Valuers Ltd, Ternic Enterprises Ltd and his brother Richard Omondi Ochiel.
“Mr Ochiel used Ms Maina, the companies and Mr Omondi as conduits to receive, hold or otherwise conceal funds acquired in the course of, or as a result of, his corrupt conduct,” says the EACC.
The court also ordered that the vehicles belonging to Mr Ochiel’s wife – a BMW, a Volkswagen and a Toyota Land Cruiser estimated to be worth Sh10.5 million -- be delivered to EACC within seven days, failure to which EACC will proceed to seize, tow and detain them for purposes of preservation until the forfeiture case is heard and determined.
Against his wife, the commission has been allowed to freeze four plots in Nairobi registered in her name. They include her five-bedroomed maisonette and a two-bedroom staff house.
Also held is her land registered under Waterfront Outlets Ltd and Ternic Enterprises Ltd.
“The defendants accumulated assets in landed properties, bank and mobile money (M-Pesa) deposits and motor vehicles, which assets were disproportionate to their known legitimate sources of income, amounting to Sh1,206,851,274,” says the EACC in the court papers.
The commission started investigations after receiving information that Mr Ochiel, through the two companies, entered into various contracts with property development companies, organisations and the public to facilitate valuation and payment of government stamp duty.
They also got contracts for title processing and conducting forensic audit services.
“The rendering of the said services was in direct conflict with Mr Ochiel’s full-time occupation as an employee of the ministry. Investigations established that between January 2003 and November 2018, he exploited his official position of trust in the ministry during his employ for his private gain,” EACC states.
Mr Ochiel was first employed at the ministry as a valuer in 1996 and rose through the ranks.
According to EACC, between January 2003 and November 2018, Mr Ochiel’s known legitimate source of income, salary and allowances earned from the ministry cannot exceed Sh6.3 million cumulatively, and claimed that the excess amount constitutes unexplained wealth.
It argues that Mr Ochiel took undue advantage of his position to confer benefit to himself by entering into contracts with private entities for services he was employed and paid to provide at the ministry.
“He is reasonably suspected of corrupt conduct by using privileged official information at the ministry for financial gain through the companies, thus compromising his public or official duties in favour of his personal interests,” says the EACC.
Court papers indicate that Mr Ochiel, through Ternic Valuers, had various contracts with companies such as Mhasibu Housing Company Ltd, Mhasibu Runda Welfare Association, Mhasibu Investments Company Ltd and the Catholic Archdiocese of Nairobi. They paid him cumulatively Sh59 million.
