NYS scandal: Court orders Ngirita family to forfeit cars, land to the State

The High Court has ordered that some properties including high-end cars, parcels of land and residential buildings belonging to the Ngirita’s be forfeited to the State.

Justice Mumbi Ngugi on Wednesday dismissed claims that the over Ksh.300 million deposited in the accounts of the Ngirita’s was rightfully deposited by the National Youth Service (NYS).

For months, the Ngirita’s have been defending their source of wealth in court, with the Assets Recovery Agency lodging a case in court seeking forfeiture of the cars and properties on grounds that they were proceeds of crime.

But the Ngirita’s, — Anne Wambui Ngirita, Phylis Njeri Ngirita, Lucy Wambui Ngirita and Jeremiah Ngirita — have failed to demonstrate how they acquired the money and properties in Naivasha, Nakuru and Kitale.

In her ruling, Justice Ngugi said the evidence presented before the court is sufficient and require the respondents to explain the basis of the massive deposit close to Ksh.400 million that they received from NYS and the source of the funds from which they purchased the properties.

“I say this bearing in mind the observations of courts with respect to the failure or inability of a party to explain the sources of its funds,” said the judge in part.

The High Court’s anti-corruption division found that some properties belonging to the Ngirita family were purchased in the period they obtained funds from the National Youth Service and are therefore proceeds of crime and must be surrendered to the State.

The judge dismissed claims by the Ngiritas that they have grown their entities into huge enterprises that supplied foodstuffs to the NYS.

According to the Justice Ngugi, none of the documents presented by the Ngirita’s explain the vast sums of money deposited in the accounts between 2015 and 2018.