Blow to Nairobi County employee as High Court declines to unfreeze his Ksh.643M assets

Nairobi County government employee Wilson Nahashon Kanani has suffered another blow after the High Court on Wednesday declined to lift orders freezing his assets amounting to Ksh.643.2 million.

This comes after Justice Esther Maina on September 13, 2023, barred Kanani from dealing with his properties including high-end vehicles, houses, and pieces of land, as well as Ksh.48 million held in several bank accounts.

The order was issued after the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) filed a case seeking to seize Kanani’s assets valued at the said amount whose source he could not explain.

The public officer however challenged the initial court ruling, but Justice Nixon Sifuna - in a judgment delivered on Wednesday - dismissed his application stating that the September 2023 orders by Justice Maina “shall continue to abide to the logical conclusion of the matter.”

EACC, in its case, claimed that Kanani was a Development Control Officer II at the Urban Planning Department of the Nairobi County government earning a monthly gross salary of Ksh.88, 530, or a net of Ksh.55,866.

The commission went ahead to state that Kanani had accumulated assets way above his legitimate sources of income, including being a co-director of Seventeen Forty Nine Limited which trades as the popular 1824 nightclub.

The anti-graft watchdog noted that the public officer had abused his position by receiving revenue meant for the Nairobi County government through bank accounts held by his private companies and spouse.

These companies include; Live Ad Limited; Firm Bridge Limited, Ikon Prints Media Limited, Parrot Concepts Limited, De-signtech Enterprises Limited, and Media-max Network Limited.

Parrot Concepts Limited reportedly paid into Kanani’s private company, Willy Walla Ltd, a total of Ksh.55 million while Media-Max Network Limited paid to the same company a total of Ksh.23.9 million in the five-year period under investigations.

“Investigations also revealed that Mr Kanani had been previously convicted of a corruption offence involving soliciting for bribes while employed under the same capacity by the defunct City Council of Nairobi,” a source at the commission said.

Kanani is said to have acquired various assets during the five-year period – which the court ordered for forfeiture – including four high-end motor vehicles namely; Toyota Land Cruiser V8, Mercedes Benz E 300, Mercedes Benz E350, and Toyota Alphard.

He also reportedly owned an apartment in Nairobi valued at Ksh.6.5 million, a house in Busia County valued at Ksh.11.2 million, land in Naivasha valued at Ksh.3.5 million. Cash amounting to Ksh.898, 000 was also recovered from his premises by investigators during a search.