There was drama at top lawyer Professor Tom Ojienda’s Silverpool Office Suites at Jabavu Lane Kodhek Road after detectives from EACC, Serious crimes Prevention Unit and DCI raided the office in search of documents.
Efforts by security officers to stop them were fruitless since they were overpowered by the detectives that managed to get in.
A lawyer from the firm lamented that client confidentiality has been forsaken by raiding the law firm.
The detectives took with them a computer from the law firm for further probe.
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.
