The High Court has frozen Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua’s bank account with KSh 200 million for 90 days.
The bank accounts at Rafiki Micro Finance bank were frozen after investigations by Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) established that the funds were acquired illegally and the payments were made to companies linked to the MP by government agencies.
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The government agencies include the Ministry of Lands (Kenya Informal Settlements Programme), State Department for Special Planning, Ministry of Health, Bungoma County government, Mathira Constituency Development Fund, Nyeri County government and the National Irrigation Board.
Further investigations conducted by the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA), Gachagua and Jenne Enterprises Limited were involved in a suspected complex scheme of money laundering.
The funds are held in four accounts at the bank, with three accounts registered in Gachagua’s name and one in the name of Jenne Enterprises.
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The three accounts under the MP’s name holds KSh 165 million, KSh 35 million and KSh773,228
The other one in the name of Jenne Enterprises holds KSh 1,138,142.
Court documents also revealed that in seven years, Gachagua received a total of KSh 5.8 billion from companies providing services to ministries, state agencies, and county governments
“That within the said period, there were massive suspicious cash withdrawals, transfers, inter and intra-bank transfers from other accounts to the accounts under investigations and other bank accounts owned by Mr. Gachagua in suspicious complex money-laundering schemes,” ARA said.
“There are reasonable grounds to believe that the suspect’s bank accounts were used as a conduit for money laundering in efforts to conceal, disguise the nature, source, disposition and movement of illicit funds and should be preserved,” the agency further said.
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Justice John Onyiego of the Anti-Corruption Division of the High Court barred the MP and Jenne Enterprises from dealing with or transferring the funds.
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