The High Court has ordered former Homa Bay County Assembly Clerk Bob Kephas Otieno and two others to jointly and severally repay KSh12,571,166.50 after finding that public funds were fraudulently and unlawfully paid into their joint bank account between 2015 and 2017.
In a judgment delivered on October 16, 2026, Justice Benjamin Mwikya Musyoki also directed the three defendants to pay interest at court rates from the date the recovery suit was filed until the full amount is settled, alongside the costs of the case.
The judgment followed a recovery suit filed by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) under Milimani High Court Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Suit No. E011 of 2022, which sought the return of money transferred from the Homa Bay County Assembly’s funds to an account held jointly by Lilian Achieng Aloo and David Obonyo.
According to the court, Otieno authorised payments totalling KSh12,571,166.50 between December 24, 2015, and December 22, 2017, which were allegedly presented as salaries for Achieng despite her not being an employee of the County Assembly.
Achieng was a teacher employed by the Teachers Service Commission, while Obonyo worked as a Business Growth and Development Manager at Equity Bank’s Homa Bay branch during the period under investigation.
The court established that the money was paid into a joint account held by the two, with evidence showing that the account received funds transferred through a bank suspense account following instructions from the Assembly.
The defendants maintained that the payments were not salaries but were instead made for services supplied to the Assembly through Damila Enterprises, a business jointly owned by Achieng and Obonyo.
They argued that the enterprise had undertaken various projects and provided catering services for the funerals of three Assembly members.
Otieno also maintained that he authorised payments in his official capacity after other departments had approved the transactions.
However, Justice Musyoki found that the defendants had failed to provide sufficient documentation to justify the payments.
The court noted that although the defendants claimed the money included payments for catering services, they did not account for the entire amount received.
The judge observed that the defendants' documents indicated a combined value of KSh7,106,890 for the three alleged catering engagements, leaving KSh5,464,276.50 unexplained.
The court further found that the defendants had not demonstrated that the procurement procedures required for the alleged contracts had been followed.
The documents presented did not adequately establish that the claimed works had been completed or that the payments were justified.
The judgment also noted that the payments were directed to a joint personal account rather than an account belonging to the business allegedly contracted to provide the services. The court found the explanation for this arrangement unconvincing.
Justice Musyoki held that Otieno, as the Assembly’s accounting officer, had a duty to ensure that public funds were properly managed and disbursed.
The court found him liable for causing the loss through corrupt and fraudulent conduct, while Achieng and Obonyo were held liable for receiving public money for work not done or services not rendered.
The court consequently entered judgment in favour of the EACC, ordering all three defendants to repay the full KSh12,571,166.50 jointly and severally, with interest and costs.
The ruling forms part of the EACC’s efforts to recover public funds allegedly lost through fraudulent payments and irregular financial transactions involving public institutions.
The case concerns civil recovery of public money and the judgment orders repayment rather than imposing a prison sentence.
