The High Court has frozen the bank accounts of a government employee with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry for alleged involvement in the fraudulent acquisition of public funds, adding up to millions of shillings.

The employee named Samuel Njoroge Kariuki’s accounts hold Sh22 million, a colossal amount for his otherwise lean salary, leading an investigation by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption (EACC) to conclude that Kariuki must have got the amount through unscrupulous means.

According to court documents, Kariuki joined the Ministry of Environment and Forestry in January 2018 in the rank of a Finance Officer II whose job group is graded at K with a salary of Sh32,000.

Kariuki had also worked at Save the Children organisation where his salary was Sh27,000 prior to securing his position at the Ministry of Environment and Forestry.

The court papers indicated Kariuki received a sum of SH79,763,944 from the ministry he was working in, aside from his salary.

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"That apart from his salary, the respondents received numerous large sums of money from his employer the Ministry of Environment and Forestry amounting to Ksh.79,763,944," the court papers read.

According to EACC, his bank account had a balance of Sh22,467,999 at the time of the execution of warrants.

EACC’s investigations also established Kariuki received Sh3.9 million in imprest for the purchase of snacks between March 2019 and March 2022.

Further investigations also revealed public funds allotted for the purchase of snacks were acquired and spent irregularly on February 2, 2021, and February 5, 2021.

Samuel Njoroge Kariuki. PHOTO/COURTESY

"Investigations established that 2nd February and 5th February 2021 public funds designated as purchase of snacks were irregularly acquired and spent," the court documents partly read.

The court ruled that EACC’s findings have raised a valid suspicion that the money credited into Kariuki’s account was acquired through corrupt means.

This suspicion was supported by the fact that the money does not correspond to his legitimate source of income therefore the credits in his account are from questionable sources.