Justice Esther Maina dismissed the application by James Nderitu Thuita saying the onus was upon him to prove that he actually made the supplies.
The trader argued that NYS was a necessary party in the forfeiture proceedings as they have the records of the supplies he made.
The High Court has rejected an application to enjoin National Youth Service (NYS) in a case seeking the forfeiture of millions of shillings belonging to a trader who allegedly received payments from the agency for goods not supplied.
Justice Esther Maina dismissed the application by James Nderitu Thuita saying the onus was upon him to prove that he actually made the supplies.
The trader argued that NYS was a necessary party in the forfeiture proceedings as they have the records of the supplies he made.
The judge, however rejected the application saying Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) has sought the forfeiture of the Sh4.3 million because it believes that no goods or services were supplied to NYS.
"The law as it stands is that the onus lies upon the respondents to show how they came into possession of the monies to them by NYS," the judge said.
The agency says the funds, held in three bank accounts are suspected to have been part of Sh467 million stolen from the NYS in 2017.
The accounts — two at Standard Chartered and Equity Banks — are registered in the names of Active Electrons Africa Ltd, Firstling Supplies, and Ameritrade Ltd, all linked to businessman Nderitu, who is alleged to have received more than Sh1.6 billion from NYS for supplies allegedly made to the agency.
This is the second petition by ARA seeking forfeiture of Mr Nderitu’s funds after a similar case last year saw the businessman lose Sh35 million, after the High Court ruled that the money was unexplained wealth.
“The application for forfeiture is premised on the investigations conducted by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations into the theft and fraud of public funds amounting to Sh467 million from NYS,” the application by ARA reads.
