EACC freezes Samuel Njoroge Kariuki bank account with millions yet he earns Sh32,000

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has ordered the freezing of accounts for a junior staff member in the Ministry of Environment for allegedly receiving a bank deposit of Sh70 million.

Through court orders, the EACC froze the account of Samuel Njoroge Kariuki who has worked in the ministry for close to five years, earning a salary of Sh32,000.

Njoroge’s bank account according to the anti-graft body has been receiving unscrupulous huge sums of money which have been established to be illegally obtained since Njoroge has no other known source of income.

EAAC is also looking into the Integrated Financial Management (IFMIS) account in the ministry which indicates millions spent in the purchase of snacks.

EACC CEO Twalib Mbarak (Twitter) EACC CEO Twalib Mbarak (Twitter) Pulse Live Kenya

Puzzle of prison cleaner who is worth Sh257 million

The establishment comes just days after the oversight body ordered the freezing of assets of Eric Kipkurui Mutai, a cleaning supervisor at the State Department for Correctional Services over links to embezzlement of Sh257 million.

Lady Justice Esther Maina ordered Mutai to surrender seven cars valued at Sh32 million to the Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission for seizing.

“The freezing orders shall subsist for a period of six months to allow EACC complete investigations into the allegations of fraud and embezzlement of public funds, and to file a formal application for recovery of the public resources,” read the High Court ruling.

A Sh17.5 million house in Nairobi, two plots of property in Nyaribari Chache in Kisii County valued at Sh25 million, and another piece of land in Kericho valued at Sh17 million are among the frozen assets.

The anti-corruption office told the court that between 2012 and 2016, the cleaning supervisor, who was paid Sh20,800 per month, registered seven businesses and exploited them to embezzle taxpayers' money under the pretense of delivering food.

Mutai collaborated with several top prisons officers to have his firms receive Sh257 million without supplying anything, according to the commission's counsel Diana Kenduiwa.