The role of Lawyers and judges in aiding corruption and money laundering has come under sharp focus with the arrest of top lawyer Tom Ojienda in former Nairobi governor Evans Kidero money laundering and fraud scams.
Professor Odek, a court of appeal Judge has gone underground as arrest looms for being a partner in crime to Tom Ojienda.
According to detectives that have been looking for him for the last two weeks, the cheeky professor has avoided his home and even switched off his phones.
The professor was a partner at their law firm before he was appointed as a court of appeal judge. The investigation has been ongoing for about a year now.
Tom Ojienda was arrested today by flying squad, DCI and serious crimes prevention unit officers after being on the run, and changing his cars and phone numbers and even houses for more than a month.
The high-flying lawyer has been under the radar of sleuths at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations over money laundering of suspected proceeds of grand corruption.
Ojienda who is the Law Society of Kenya representative to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has been for many years acting a defence attorney for besieged former Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero.
DCI were closely monitoring the actives of Ojienda and his posh Hurligham based practice, DCI detectives that Cyprian Nyakundi spoke to Via secure messaging confirmed.
For years now, Ojienda, who was previously rural practicing lawyer based in Eldoret before moving to Nairobi, has variously assisted Governor Kidero block a probe into various bank accounts held by Kidero and members of his family including a Standard Charted US dollar account, CBA Sterling Pound account and the Evans Kidero Foundation Family Bank account.
A few weeks ago Kidero was rearrested in ongoing investigations into alleged corruption after DCI and anti-corruption detectives camped at his upmarket Muthaiga home for hours before leaving with him in popular arrest.
Two years ago Ojienda was accused of tax evasion by the Kenya Revenue Authority. At that time KRA demanded a staggering Sh378 million, which included un-remitted employees’ income tax.
Ojienda was branded tax non-compliant and had his request for tax conformity certificate turned down.
Court records showed Ojienda evaded tax on his income as legal fees estimated at Sh1.1 billion received from Mumias Sugar Company and the Nairobi County Government, organisations that were both for years headed by Evans Kidero.
