NAIROBI: The Government has recovered assets worth Sh3 billion that have been lost over the years through corrupt deals. This amount is however an insignificant fraction of taxpayers’ billions lost through corruption every year; until now, the Government has been lax about acting despite numerous investigations. Other jurisdictions have also convicted citizens involved in corrupt deals in Kenya. National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich yesterday said the recovered money was the furthest any regime had gone as far as fighting graft.
Mr Rotich said other than the asset recovery, the Government had put in place a legal framework to punish corrupt private sector and state officials. The assets recovered included money stolen in the infamous ‘Chickengate’ scandal in which a UK printing firm, Smith and Ouzman, was accused and convicted of inflating printing material costs.
The firm was also accused of bribing officials from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission as well as the Kenya National Examinations Council. The CS said the Sh577 million recovered from the Smith and Ouzman case would be used to set up and improve health centres as well as put up off-grid power systems in arid and semi-arid counties.
“To date, approximately Sh3 billion of corruptly-acquired assets have either been recovered or preserved for recovery. No previous governments have gone this far in the fight against corruption,” said Rotich when he delivered the Budget statement in Parliament Thursday.
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