The High Court has given the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) permission to freeze the assets of former Machakos County Executive Committee (CEC) member Urbanus Wambua Musyoka worth Ksh. 88,807,473.67.

The orders were issued in response to reports that Musyoka fraudulently obtained Ksh.91, 202,892 from the devolved unit’s coffers between 2013 and 2015.

On May 12, 2022, EACC filed a recovery suit against the suspect, who is accused of siphoning funds while serving as Chairperson of the Machakos County Committee, and obtained the orders four months later on October 4, 2022.

Musyoka, according to the commission, made irregular payments totaling the sum to four companies associated with him, namely Wisdom Holding Ltd, Wemmar Enterprise, Wafih International Ltd, and Kikoto General Merchants, for services that were never rendered to the county.

He is said to have used Ksh.80, 251,815 to build a posh home in the Kibauni area of Machakos County, while the remaining Ksh.10, 951,077 was wired to his bank account.

“Between 2013 and 2015, as chairperson of the defunct Tender Committee for the County Government of Machakos, Urbanus Wambua Musyoka awarded tenders to the aforementioned companies in which he had an interest,” EACC said in a statement on Friday.

“He was the sole mandatory signatory on the bank accounts used by the companies to conduct business with the County Government.” Mr. Musyoka was unable to explain the disparity between his assets and known legitimate sources of income, despite the EACC notice requiring him to do so.”

In the undetermined suit, EACC seeks an order compelling Musyoka to pay the State Ksh.80, 251,815 for the total construction cost of the Kibauni residential building, as well as Ksh.10, 951,077 for the total amounts received in his bank accounts during the period of interest.

EACC also seeks a forfeiture order for Ksh.8, 555,658 held in the suspect’s name at Equity Bank, which is part of the Ksh.10 million mentioned above.