Assets agency to keep Sh110 million seized from Bahraini national 

By SAM KIPLAGAT
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Summary

• The High Court has allowed a state agency to keep $ 977,075 (about Sh110 million) seized from a Bahraini national last week, pending the conclusion of investigations into the source of the funds.
• ARA said Mr Hamad arrived in Kenya on January 13 but failed to declare any cash upon entry into Nairobi.

The High Court has allowed a state agency to keep $ 977,075 (about Sh110 million) seized from a Bahraini national last week, pending the conclusion of investigations into the source of the funds.

Justice Esther Maina allowed the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) to keep the money for 90 days after being informed that the bulky cash Mr Khalid Jameel Saeed Hamad was carrying on January 28, when he was seized Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), are proceeds of crime.

ARA said Mr Hamad arrived in Kenya on January 13 but failed to declare any cash upon entry into Nairobi.

The Bahraini was to depart the county on EgyptAir flight number MS0841 at 7.30 am on January 28, when customs officials noticed that he was carrying bulky cash.

The agency said when asked why he was carrying bulky cash, Mr Hamad allegedly failed to give a reasonable explanation or a document to show why he was in possession of the cash.

The court heard that when he was intercepted at JKIA, Mr Hamad did not show proof of declaration of being in possession of the bulky cash from his point of origin or documentation to support the source, purpose, or movement of the cash.  

Section 12(1) read together with the 2nd Schedule of the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act requires a person carrying more than $10,000 in or out of Kenya, to declare the money to the customs officials.

“The failure of the Respondent to declare being in possession of funds in excess of $10,000 in cash and not having a reasonable explanation nor supporting documents to support the legitimacy of the cash raises reasonable suspicion of a money laundering schemes executed in an effort to conceal, the nature, source, location, disposition, or movement of the funds,” ARA said in court documents.

The court allowed ARA to transfer the funds from Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to its accounts at KCB. The case will be mentioned on May 9.