In light of new evidence, the state will now return the KSh200 million belonging to Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua that it had forfeited last year.
This comes after the Court of Appeal on Wednesday, February 1, 2023, overturned the High Court ruling declaring the money to be the proceeds of crime, finding new evidence to show otherwise.
After the fresh evidence demonstrating that the funds were not the proceeds of crime, DP Gachagua and the Asset Recovery Agency came to an agreement to resolve the case through the counsel of Kioko Kilukumi.
According to the Asset Recovery Agency (ARA), the Deputy President has since adequately explained the source and authenticity of the aforementioned funds.
Read: DP Rigathi Gachagua Declared Owner Of Controversial Land Worth Ksh1.5 billion by State
According to ARA, the new evidence was not presented to the judge at the time the high court issued its ruling because the agency did not have access to it.
While forfeiting DP’s funds last year, Justice Esther Maina concluded that Gachagua, who was an MP at the time, admitted to receiving the funds from government agencies but there was no evidence that he provided any services or goods to the government.
She added that the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) had demonstrated that despite receiving payments, the MP and his enterprises failed to provide any items or render any services to the ministries or organizations that awarded him contracts.
This also comes months after the Ksh7.3 billion corruption charge against Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua was dropped by the Anti-Corruption Court as announced by Senior Principal Victor Wakumile on Thursday, November 10, 2022.
This came after the Office of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) requested the corruption case be dropped due to insufficient evidence that delayed the investigations.
Read:Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s Ksh7.3 Billion Case Dropped
During the court hearings, lead prosecutor Kuria Obadiah explained that withdrawing the charges allowed the team to undertake additional investigations and assess the suspected corruption case.
The DP expressed his appreciation for the ODPP’s decision to drop the charges against him through his attorney, Kioko Kilukumi while continuing to claim that the matter was politically motivated by the previous administration.
The Assets Recovery Agency was established under Section 53 of the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act No.9 of 2009 as a body corporate with the mandate of combating money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing through identification, tracing, freezing, seizure, and confiscation of proceeds of crime.
