A senior employee of the Mandera County Government suffered a major blow as the high court declined to release Sh61 million that had been frozen by the lower court.
The Asset Recovery Agency had received orders freezing Abdi Mohamed Ali’s two accounts and another joint account with his wife Saadia Sheikh Osman.
The Agency had told court that they are investigating whether the money was from proceeds of crime as the two accounts received massive suspicious cash deposits made from different locations including Garrisa, Mandera, Moyale, Eastleigh and Westlands.
Ali who is the County Director Livestock in Mandera County then moved to the high court alongside his wife challenging the move to freeze their accounts telling the court they run several businesses.
In his ruling, Justice John Onyiego declined to lift the freeze order saying that the two had not proven the source of the money that was in the accounts.
However, the judge allowed Ali to withdraw Sh3 million from his personal account on humanitarian grounds as his salary was also part of the money in the bank.
“On humanitarian grounds and taking into account that a huge sum of Mohammed’s salary is in the account that has been frozen, I will make a providing for him to withdraw Sh3 million from his account to enable him meet some immediate expenses like payment of school fees arrears and other medical expenses,” the court ruled.
Judge Onyiego added that the money is in safe custody and at the end of the day if the agency does not prove their claims the money will be released to the couple together with accrued interest.
“Lifting the orders will subject the money in question to greater risk in recovery in the event that the same is transferred to third parties,” he ruled.
The court also noted that from the bank statements produced in court since May 2019 the couple has never made any withdrawals from one of the accounts which means they have other sources of income.
“The couple’s explanation given is quite casual and cosmetic with no tangible evidence or proof of the existence of any business being undertaken by Ali. They claimed that Saadia was a business lady in Garissa dealing with livestock but there was nothing attached to prove that she does such a business,” the court ruled.
On the issue of hardship due to the freezing of their accounts, the court ruled that Ali is a civil servant and so his salary has not been affected and he can operate a separate account and continue with his normal life using his salary.
Ali’s account held in Equity Mandera branch is said to have received suspicious cash deposits amounting of Sh51.4 million between July 10 2014 and June 9 2017 while the joint account received a total of Sh21 million between July 27 2018 and February 8 2020.
Ali and his wife in their defense claimed that the large deposits reflected in the two accounts are clearly supported by evidence of regular income resulting from trading in large scale livestock, fresh farm produce clothing and jewellery as well as savings spanning over 35 years.