Who is fooling who? We were misled by DCI to seize Gachagua’s Sh200million, ARA says
In yet another criminal law suit facing the Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua on the verge of collapse, the Assets Recovery Authority (ARA) has now told the Court of Appeal it did not conduct its own investigations in the seizure of Sh200million belonging to the DP, then Mathira legislator, instead, the agency relied on the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) that had since reached a verdict that the source of funds in Gachagua’s bank accounts was questionable and therefore had to be surrendered to the state.
ARA, in an affidavit by a police officer attached to the agency now says it was misled to do so.
The officer who was tasked with the responsibility to identify and trace assets allegedly acquired by Gachagua dubiously, regretted that ARA proceeded to file an application seeking forfeiture of the funds to the government of Kenya without sufficient proof that the funds were acquired fraudulently.
“The facts and evidence relied upon by the agency were mainly same as the ones used by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in the Criminal Case number ACC E015 of 2021 in which the Applicant (Rigathi Gachagua) was charged,” the investigating officer, Fredrick Musyoki told the court
The officer says the decision by the DPP to withdraw the case against Gachagua over lack of evidence to sustain criminal trial prompted the Asset Recovery Agency to initiate its own investigations on the matter. Musyoki says he proceeded to seek information from all the entities which Gachagua claimed were the sources of funds in dispute, and whose responses proved beyond reasonable doubt that the Deputy President had been falsely accused.
With all facts on the table, he said the money in question should be returned to Gachagua.
“The evidence has satisfactorily explained the source and legitimacy of the funds in issue and that the Agency is satisfied that the same is not proceeds of crime as was initially perceived and be released to the applicant,” Musyoki told the Court of Appeal.
In November last year, the Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji applied to withdraw the Sh7.3billion corruption charges against the DP.
Haji applied to withdraw the charges under section 87A of the criminal procedure code saying investigations into the matter were not complete.
The investigating officer Obadiah Kuria told anti-corruption court magistrate Victor Wakumile that there are some areas in the case that were not adequately covered because he was not given sufficient time to complete the probe.
Gachagua was charged in July with nine other people and companies and was released after depositing cash bail of Sh12 million.
Among the charges is that he and Rapid Medical Suppliers Ltd acquired Sh6 million from Nyeri county government on December 29, 2014 for the supply of Dialysis machines to Nyeri Provincial General Hospital.
He is also alleged to have received Sh104 million from Bungoma county government suspected to be proceeds of crime between January 2015 and June 2019.
