BY SAM ALFAN .
A Nakuru based doctor has sought the removal of Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) chairman Anthony Mwaura arguing that he is unfit to hold public office.
Dr. Magare Gikenyi says in a petition filed at the anti-corruption division of the High Court that Mwaura has pending graft cases in court hence unfit to hold the office.
The doctor wants the court to declare that KRA chairman Mwaura is not fit to hold the position of Chairperson of Board of Directors of the KRA.
“Unless this matter is heard urgently, there is a risk of a continued breach of ethics by the 1st Respondent and 3rd Interested Party especially now that the two sit on the Board of Directors of a very sensitive national institution in the mould of the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (EACC),” says Gikenyi.
It is Dr. Gikenyi argument that the Attorney General and Cabinet Secretary for Treasury failed, neglected and or refused to advise the President that Mwaura is not fit to hold public office in light of Section 62 of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act, over a case pending in court.
Gikenyi says Mwaura is a suspect facing a myriad of criminal charges before the Anti Corruption Court in Milimani Magistrate Court relating to theft of colossal sums of money from the Nairobi County Government.
He further says Jenifer Gitiri, the Deputy Director in Charge of Legal Services and Company Secretary at the Asset Recovery Agency, who also sits in the KRA board, personally initiated asset freezing proceedings against Mwaura.
He said the application was made as soon as criminal proceedings were instituted against Mwaura before the anti-corruption chief magistrate.
ARA successfully argued for freezing and seizure of Mwaura’s pending the application for forfeiture.
Mwaura was appointed the chairman of KRA on 18 November 2022 while the corruption suit was still pending.
He argues that ARA knew on her appointment on KRA’s Board that the said Board was chaired by a criminal suspect she prosecuted and for whom she knew that a case was still pending.
He argues that AG and and Treasury CS and ARA boss Gitiri have misled and continue to mislead the President in appointing and retaining Mwaura as Chairman of KRA when in fact Mwaura is not qualified to hold public office due to pendency of corruption and economic crimes allegedly committed against the County Government of Nairobi.
Anti-graft court in Nairobi last month dismissed an application by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution seeking to withdraw the corruption case against Mwaura and his wife Rose Njeri.
The two are charged with embezzlement of Shh.357 million from the Nairobi County Government alongside others.
Senior Magistrate Eunice Nyutu dismissed the application on grounds that it lacks merit, noting that the prosecution failed to convince the court why it chose to withdraw the case against Mwaura and his companies- Hardy Enterprises Limited, Toddy Civil Engineering Limited as well as his wife.
DPP made an application to withdraw the case against four accused persons — Mwaura, his wife and two companies linked to them — claiming that their prosecution “is not in the interest of administration of justice and public interest.”
