State seizes three more NYS-linked accounts at Equity, StanChart
The government has obtained orders to get hold of bank deposits in three companies linked to James Thuita Nderitu, a businessman linked to the multimillion-shilling National Youth Service (NYS) scandal.
The Asset Recovery Agency (ARA) obtained orders to seize Sh7.2 million in Equity Bank and Standard Chartered Bank belonging to Ameritrade, First Supplies and Active electronics.
Standard Chartered Bank has terminated two bank accounts holding Sh4.3 million while Sh2.9 million was being held at Equity Bank.
High Court issued preservation orders on the accounts which will now be moved to the custody of the State.
“That an order is hereby issued that the funds so preserved be deposited in the Asset Recovery Agency account held at Kenya Commercial Bank Limited, KICC Branch,” Judge James Wakiaga ruled.
Thuita is said to have received Kes 1.1 billion from the NYS between March and October 2017 for goods and services that he did not deliver.
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The ARA has frozen money in several other bank accounts linked to firms he owned including Flagstone Merchants Ltd, Firstling Supplies Ltd, Excella Supplies Ltd, Flagstone Co Ltd, and Interscope Tech and Services.
The court also allowed the ARA to freeze the accounts of Yvonne Wanjiku Ngugi, the estranged wife of the crisis hit businessman, at Diamond Trust Bank holding Kes 3.1 million.
