BY NT CORRESPONDENT.
A Mombasa businessman has been ordered to forfeit his motor vehicle to the state.
Mohamed Hassan Kini lost the vehicle after he was arrested and cannabis sativa popularly known as bhang and 531 grams of heroin worth Sh.1.5 million, were found inside the vehicle.
Anti-corruption Judge Lucy Njuguna declared the motor vehicle as proceeds of crime and directed it forfeited to the state.
“An order is hereby issued declaring motor vehicle registration number KCV 894V, Daihatsu, station wagon as proceed of crime,” ruled the judge.
The judge issued an order for the motor vehicle he handed over to the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA).
The court further directed the Director National Transport and Safety Authority to effect transfer of the motor vehicle to ARA.
The judge rejected an application by Al-alyaan Motors seeking the motor vehicle to be released to them, claiming that Kini defaulted on loan repayment.
Justice Njuguna ruled that public interest militates against the release of the vehicle to Al-alyaan Motors as that would go against the spirit of enactment of the POCAMLA.
The judge said the enactment of the law was meant to discourage criminals from obtaining funds and assets, and using or dealing with properties that have been acquired as a result of criminal activities.
ARA told the court that Al-alyaan Motors has not shown that the sale of the motor vehicle was agreed under Hire Purchase terms.
“Clause 3 of the sale agreement does not provide in definitive terms, that the agreement was made under Hire Purchase arrangement so that it entitles the seller a right to repossess the vehicle in the event of default by the Kini,” ARA told the court.
The agency further submitted that the sale agreement does not contain any provision which describes the sale as a hire purchase sale.
“Even assuming that the vehicle was purchased under hire purchase, the Interested Party is precluded from exercising its right to repossess the same since more than two thirds of the purchase price has already been paid. The only remedy the Interested Party has is to pursue the balance through a civil suit,” court said.
The court noted that Al-alyaan Motors may be seen to be making a valid point, however, must the purchase price come from a bank account for it to qualify to be from a legitimate source? This, to me, is a resounding no,” said the judge.
Kini was arrested at Ganjoni estate in Mombasa on the 18th September 2021, and subsequent arraignment in court on the 22nd September 2021.
The businessman was charged with trafficking in narcotic drugs contrary to Section 4(a) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act No. 4 of 1994 in the Chief Magistrate’s Court at Mombasa Law Courts.
That during the arrest, a search was conducted in the motor vehicle and his residence where 678.9 grams of cannabis and 531 grams of heroin with market value of Sh.20,364 and Sh. 1,593,000, respectively were recovered.
ARA conducted investigations into the activities of Kini’s bank and M-pesa accounts for purposes of ascertaining whether he received and laundered any funds and used it to acquire assets that are suspected to be proceeds of crime.
The investigations established that Kini received suspicious funds from the illegitimate trade in narcotic drugs through M-pesa and bank accounts registered in his name.
The investigations established that the asset or property traced and identified was unlawfully acquired using proceeds from the illegitimate trade in Narcotic drugs substances with Kini’s bank accounts used as conduits of money laundering.
