The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has won a civil suit to recover Sh12.57 million in public money from a former Clerk of the Homa Bay County Assembly and two other people. The court found that the money was paid out of the Assembly's salary account to people who had no right to it.

In a judgment delivered on 16 October 2026, Justice Benjamin Musyoki ordered former Clerk Bob Kephas Otieno and two co-defendants to jointly and severally repay Sh12,571,166.50. Interest at court rates will run from the date the suit was filed until the debt is cleared, and the EACC was awarded the costs of the case, The Eastleigh Voice and Kenyans.co.ke reported.

Payments routed as salaries

According to the EACC's case, the transfers were made between 24 December 2015 and 22 December 2017, when Otieno was the Assembly's Clerk and its accounting officer. Money was moved from the Assembly's salary suspense account to a joint Equity Bank account belonging to a married couple.

The commission told the court that the payments were presented as salaries even though neither of the two account holders worked for the Assembly or the Homa Bay County Government. Investigators found that one was a teacher employed by the Teachers Service Commission. The other was then a business growth and development manager at Equity Bank's Homa Bay branch, The Eastleigh Voice reported.

The joint account had reportedly been opened in 2006 and lay dormant for years before large deposits started arriving in 2015. Money was later withdrawn from it.

The defence: funeral catering and loans

All three defendants denied any wrongdoing. They told the court the money paid for services from a business owned by the couple, including catering at the funerals of three Assembly members. They put the cost of the three funerals at about Sh6 million.

Otieno argued that the payments went into the couple's personal account at their request because their business had tax problems. He also said that part of the money came from the county executive, which he did not control. The defendants further claimed that some of the payments were loan repayments.

What the court found

Justice Musyoki rejected those explanations. He found that the documents produced could account for about Sh7.1 million in services. The remaining Sh5.46 million was not explained.

The judge also noted that the supposed direct procurement had none of the usual paperwork. There were no tender documents, no evaluation committee minutes, no approvals, no approved budget and no procurement plan. He said contracts alone did not prove that work had been done or that payment was due, and the defendants offered no evidence that the loans they mentioned ever existed.

The court held that, as accounting officer, Otieno had a duty to make sure public money was properly managed and paid only to people entitled to it. According to The Eastleigh Voice, the judge also said that transfers to Otieno after the payments to his co-defendants "raised concerns about his role". All three were found liable.

The ruling relied on Article 226(5) of the Constitution, which makes public officers personally responsible for losses caused by the unlawful use of public funds. It also cited Section 203(1)(a) of the Public Finance Management Act and Section 51 of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act, which allows the State to claim compensation for losses caused by corruption.

The commission said it remains committed to protecting public resources and holding to account those responsible for the loss or misuse of public funds.

Part of a wider recovery drive

The Homa Bay judgment is one of several civil recovery wins announced by the EACC this month. On Tuesday, the High Court ordered a former Trans Nzoia county accountant to forfeit Sh207.7 million in unexplained assets to the State, also after a suit by the commission.

Civil recovery cases like this one are separate from criminal prosecutions. They let the commission reclaim public money on a balance of probabilities, without a criminal conviction.

The defendants can still appeal the judgment.

Photos: Integrity Centre, EACC headquarters in Nairobi (EACC via The Eastleigh Voice); file image of cash recovered in an earlier EACC operation (Kenyans.co.ke).