Court seals fate of ex-Youth Affairs PS Lilian Omollo as Sh32million assets go to state
In an earlier application during the proceedings, the former Principal Secretary sought the release of Sh2.26 million every month from her frozen accounts to cater for family expenses, including food, school fees, housing and maintenance of three vehicles. The latest ruling marks the end of Omollo's appeal and clears the way for the State to permanently recover the forfeited assets.
Former Youth Affairs Principal Secretary Lilian Wanja Mbogo Omollo has suffered a major legal setback after the Court of Appeal upheld a High Court decision ordering the forfeiture of more than Sh32 million and USD 201,607.57 linked to her and companies associated with her, ruling that the funds were proceeds of crime.
A three-judge bench comprising Justices Patrick Kiage, Lydia Achode and Aggrey Muchelule dismissed Omollo’s appeal, affirming an earlier judgment by Justice Mumbi Ngugi that the money held in various bank accounts should be surrendered to the State under Kenya’s asset recovery laws.
In the judgment, the appellate court said the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) had proved, on a balance of probabilities, that the funds were unlawfully acquired and that Omollo had failed to give a satisfactory explanation for their source.
The judges pointed to what they described as a suspicious pattern of cash transactions, including multiple deposits of Sh900,000 into different accounts on the same day.
For instance, on August 24, 2017, several cash deposits of Sh900,000 were made into various accounts, with one account receiving two separate deposits of the same amount.
The following day, another USD 10,000 was deposited into a dollar account, alongside more cash deposits of Sh900,000 into other accounts.
According to the court, the repeated pattern of large cash deposits across several accounts over a short period raised serious questions about the origin of the money.
“Nothing comes out of nothing, and our evaluation of the evidence in this matter leads us to the unerring and inescapable conclusion that the Assets Recovery Agency established, on a balance of probabilities, that the funds in the subject accounts were proceeds of crime,” the judges ruled.
The decision upholds Justice Ngugi’s 2020 ruling that funds held in accounts belonging to Omollo, her children and companies linked to her—Sahara Consultants, LIDI Holdings Limited and LIDI Estates Limited—were liable to forfeiture.
The forfeited assets include USD 105,293.70 and Sh22,445,487.74 held in accounts at Equity Bank, Community Bank and Diamond Trust Bank in the names of Omollo, her businesses and her three children.
The High Court also declared USD 67,331.90 held by Sahara Consultants and USD 28,981.97 belonging to LIDI Estates Limited at Equity Bank as proceeds of crime.
The Court of Appeal also affirmed the High Court’s finding that a criminal conviction is not necessary before a court can order the forfeiture of assets suspected to be proceeds of crime.
Justice Ngugi had previously rejected Omollo’s argument that only a criminal court could determine whether the funds were illegally acquired, finding that the Assets Recovery Agency had acted within the law and had not violated her constitutional rights.
In an earlier application during the proceedings, the former Principal Secretary sought the release of Sh2.26 million every month from her frozen accounts to cater for family expenses, including food, school fees, housing and maintenance of three vehicles.
The court instead allowed her to withdraw Sh2million on a one-off basis and advised her to adjust her lifestyle to match her financial circumstances while the asset recovery case was pending.
The latest ruling marks the end of Omollo’s appeal and clears the way for the State to permanently recover the forfeited assets.
