Ethics and Anti-Corruption Authority (EACC) officers in Malindi have arrested a senior Tana River county government official found in possession of Ksh2.69 million whose source was suspicious.
Hassan Khalid, the EACC Manager in charge of the Upper Coast region, said the officer was arrested at the Malindi International Airport aboard an aeroplane destined for Nairobi after allegedly failing to declare the source of the money she was carrying.
It is not clear how the official passed through all the checkpoints at the air facility with the huge sum of money, with reports that she had indeed declared the cash before boarding the aircraft.
“We have opened an inquiry to establish the source of the cash and why the officer was carrying such a huge amount of money. This is an indication of the impunity,” Khalid told journalists in his Malindi office on Tuesday.
He said immediately after investigations are over, the file would be sent to the Director of Public Prosecution for prosecution.
Malindi advocate Maurice Kilonzo confirmed that his client had been arrested while travelling to Nairobi but said she had withdrawn the money from a local bank meant to buy a vehicle in Nairobi.
“That money is her personal property, and she was travelling to Nairobi to purchase a personal car,” he said adding that carrying money was not a criminal offence as long as the money is declared at the point of departure, which he claimed his client had done,” he noted.
