The High Court has ruled that the assets of Felicien Kabuga, a Rwandan tycoon suspected of financing the 1994 genocide, remain frozen until a United Nations court concludes his trial.
Justice Esther Maina on Thursday declined a request by Kabuga’s family to lift court orders issued on May 6, 2008 preserving Mr Kabuga’s multi-million shilling house in Nairobi.
Mr Kabuga was a fugitive at that time. He was arrested in May 2020 near Paris by French authorities and is currently at The Hague fighting charges related to genocide.
The property – known as House no.6 on LR.no.1/1154 (also known as Spanish villas) – is situated along Lenana Road in Nairobi.
The registered owners of the property are Mr Kabuga and his wife Mukazitoni Josephine, who died in 2017 in Belgium.
Justice Maina endorsed the 2008 preservation orders issued by Judge Muga Apondi (retired), meaning the rent income will continue being deposited in a government’s account.
The property was frozen following an application by the Attorney-General, who was enforcing resolutions for member states of the UN to assist in tracing suspects in the Rwanda genocide case.
“I agree with Justice Muga Apondi’s ruling entirely. I see no reasons to set aside that ruling. I have adopted the ruling and orders of Justice Apondi as orders of this court and dismiss the application to set themaside,” ruled Justice Maina, of the Anti-Corruption division.
According to the order, all rental income or proceeds collected by the managing agent (less any management fee payable) will be deposited to the Registrar of the High Court of Kenya until the conclusion of Mr Kabuga’s case at the UN tribunal.
Mr Kabuga’s wife, in a response filed in court before her death, argued that the Kenyan government had not proven the property was acquired through proceeds of crime or was unlawfully acquired.
She had also argued that there was proof that Mr Kabuga used the income generated from the property to avoid arrest and interfere with the prosecution’s witnesses.
Mr Kabuga, an 87-year-old businessman and radio station owner, is currently on trial before a UN tribunal at the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands over accusations of financing and promoting mass killings in Rwanda in 1994.
Court papers indicate that the house’s monthly rental income is Sh84,000 and that before the filing of the case in 2008, the rent collections were being collected by Mr Kabuga’s agents and remitted to him.
Initially, the rent was collected by Kenya Trust Company Ltd, which would deposit it in Mr Kabuga’s account at the Commercial Bank of Africa (now trading as NCBA Bank), on Wabera Street in Nairobi.
That account was later closed and Kenya Trust Company Ltd started wiring Sh296,000 quarterly to another account owned by Mr Kabuga’s wife in Belgium.
At the time of filing the application to freeze the property in 2008, the then Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko expressed fear that Mr Kabuga was using the proceeds to avoid capture and evade justice.
The application sought to freeze the assets of Mr Kabuga and his wife following a request to the Attorney-General from the International Criminal Tribunal fior Rwanda, that is based in Arusha, Tanzania.
The UN court had also claimed there was evidence Mr Kabuga had entered Kenya, applied for residency status and opened a bank account. Kenya denied the allegations.
Last month, Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji informed the court that Mr Kabuga declined to respond to, or acknowledge receipt of the court papers, so the proceedings continued without his input.
He indicated that upon being served with the court papers in January this year, at The Hague in the Netherlands, Mr Kabuga declined to append his signature or thumbprint.
