The Kenyan officer who is said to be earning a gross salary of between KSh 33,050 and KSh 8,630 per month has found himself in trouble with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) over his KSh 47 million wealth.
According to Tuko.co.ke, Jamal Bare Mohammed who was patrolling the Garissa-Thika Highway was unable to explain how he acquired the money in six years.
The anti-graft agency told the court it tracked down and recorded the officer receiving bribes on the road following a series of complaints from the public against him. Investigations were initiated and Bare was found to have stashed part of the money, KSh 26 million, in several accounts at Equity Bank, Thika Supreme Branch.
Anti-graft agency's forensic investigator Paul Mugwe told Justice Mumbi Ngungi that when the officer was questioned about his source of wealth he said the money was an inheritance from his late father and trade in livestock. Evidence produced in court showed that the 43-year-old officer used to make deposits in tranches of between KSh 200,000 and KSh 500,000 every week.
In the six years, the court heard that Bare’s gross salary was between KSh 33,050 and KSh 8,630, per month, totalling to KSh 1.8 million.
However, denying allegations of any wrongdoing, the officer told the investigators that he was the sole administrator of the wealth of his father who died in 1987 with assistance and wise counsel from the family members and in adherence to Islamic law.
Bare who joined the police service in 1996, told the court that he inherited some 120 camels, 80 cows and 200 goats from his father. He claimed in the last 20 years, he was able to multiply the animals to 217 camels, 180 cows and 268 goats.
READ ALSO: Cute preacher's hubby refuses to have sex on wedding night after years of waiting till marriage
Meanwhile, forensic investigator Paul Mugwe rubbished the officer’s claim, arguing his father died in 1987 when the officer was barely 10-years-old and there was no evidence to back his claims. The investigator told the court the animals the officer claimed contributed to his gargantuan wealth were only worth KSh 4.3 million and that the rest of his wealth is questionable.
Prosecutors tried to use video evidence to prove that Bare got his wealth from bribery but his lawyer Philip Kagucia opposed the move, arguing his client was a hardworking man who accumulated his wealth genuinely.
Despite the defence, the court ordered the freezing of Bare's bank accounts pending a final determination of the case.