Officials from the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) in Kenya are demanding that an account belonging to a 21-year-old university student be frozen since she cannot clearly explain where she got Ksh102 million in a span of three days.
Felesta Nyamathira Njoroge a student at Nairobi Technical Institute told officials attached to ARA that she was given the money by her Belgian boyfriend as a gift.
The explanation did not satisfy the officials who on Friday, November 20, moved to court and are now seeking to have the account frozen before the money is wired elsewhere or withdrawn.
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What caught the eyes of the officials from the organization is the fact that the account was opened on August 2 and the money was channelled to it after two days.
“There are reasonable grounds to believe that the funds held in the account in the name of the respondent, are illicit funds in which the respondent is involved in a money-laundering scheme designed to conceal and disguise the nature, source location and movement of the funds,” ARA said in court documents.
ARA officials believe that if the account will not be frozen then Njoroge will continue enjoying the money which is believed to be a proceed of crime.
In the court documents, ARA said that the first deposit of money was Ksh25, 803, 756 which was sent to the account on August 4, 2021.
The second deposit of ksh25, 803, 756 was made on August 5 with the third and fourth deposits of ksh25, 242,756 and ksh25 579, 356 respectively being wired on August 6.
In October, ARA said that it had flagged down the account and summoned the student who never responded but asked her lawyers to respond on her behalf.
In their response, Njoroge’s lawyers stated that the argument being given by ARA was vague and did not meet any legal threshold.
ARA said that the law firm further asked them to give an explanation on why they were summoning their client who at the time was out of the country.
“The summons issued by yourself are vague in nature as we would like a further explanation so as to advise her on what documentation she needs to bring with her,” the agency said that a letter by the law firm stated.
Njoroge's lawyers also informed the organisation that the student was currently out of the country and it was yet to be made clear when she will get back to Kenya.
