- The High Court ordered the forfeiture of Amin’s motor vehicle and money held in an Absa Bank account to the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA)
- The judge dismissed Amin’s defence and found his explanations about the source of funds and vehicle use unsatisfactory
- ARA told the judge that investigations revealed Amin’s mobile money line had received KSh 77.4 million between 2020 and 2024
Elijah Ntongai, an editor at TUKO.co.ke, has over four years of financial, business, and technology research and reporting experience, providing insights into Kenyan, African, and global trends.
A Kenyan man, Ahmed Amin, lost his motor vehicle and cash held in a bank account after the High Court declared them proceeds of crime.
Source: Getty Images
In case number Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Civil Suit E027 of 2025, the court dismissed his defence that he was a legitimate miraa trader.
In his judgment, Justice Benjamin Musyoki of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Division in Nairobi ruled in favour of the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA).
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The court ordered the forfeiture of a motor vehicle and KSh 198,639.85 held in an Absa Bank account in Meru, directing the assets to be transferred to the state.
Why did the ARA target Amin’s assets?
The ARA filed the forfeiture application on July 2, 2025 in which it sought to seize the assets under Sections 81, 90, and 92 of the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act (POCAMLA).
The agency informed the court that it had received intelligence linking Amin to drug trafficking and money laundering.
According to the court documents, the case by ARA stemmed from an incident on October 24, 2024, when the vehicle was intercepted along the Garbatulla-Isiolo highway.
After defying police orders to stop, officers shot at its tyres to disable it. The occupants fled, abandoning the vehicle.
The officers conducted a search inside the vehicle and recovered 44 bales of dry plant material weighing 222.35 kilograms, which was later confirmed by a government chemist to be a drug with an estimated street value of KSh 6.67 million.
What did ARA and Amin tell the court?
Investigations revealed a complex financial network as the ARA told the court that between 2020 and 2024, Amin’s mobile money line had received up to KSh 77.4 million.
The agency said that it traced transactions between Amin and individuals already implicated in narcotics, including one Amina, whose assets had been forfeited in a separate High Court case in September 2024.
The ARA argued that after his phone was confiscated in November 2024, Amin quickly opened the Absa Bank account and deposited KSh 250,000, indicating an attempt to move funds from the scrutinised mobile money wallets.
In court, Amin claimed he was a miraa and sugar trader and that the vehicle had been hired out to a client at the time of the drug bust.
He also stated that large transactions in his accounts were from his sisters for their Nairobi wholesale businesses.
What did the court decide on Amin’s claims?
Justice Musyoki found Amin’s explanations unsatisfactory. The judge noted that the ARA had established a strong prima facie case, shifting the burden to Amin to prove a legitimate income source, which he failed to do.
The court dismissed his vehicle hire agreement as a fabrication, citing an investigator’s finding that the document was drawn up by an advocate after the vehicle was impounded.
The judge also questioned why Amin had no details for the alleged client and did not report the vehicle missing.
Source: UGC
What was the final ruling on forfeiture of Amin’s assets to ARA?
Justice Musyoki emphasised that civil forfeiture targets the property, not the owner’s criminal culpability. Consequently, Amin’s conviction in the related criminal case in Isiolo was deemed irrelevant in the court’s decision on the suit by ARA.
Amin failed to convince the court that he was not involved in illegal business and that the source of his funds were legitimate.
“The respondent has claimed that he is in business of selling miraa but has not shown any evidence to that effect. All he told the court was that he buys and sells miraa between Meru, Moyale, Wajir and Marsbait without giving specifics. His allegations that his sisters do business in Nairobi has not been substantiated. The applicant (ARA) has exhibited a letter from the County Government of Nairobi City which says that the sisters not did not have a business licence,” the judge said.
Justice Musyoki further stated that court was not convinced that Amin had other legitimate sources of income which funded the purchase of the motor vehicle and that hid did not tell the court where he got the KSh 250,000.00 which he deposited in his new account opened on 24-11-2024.
“The totality of all the respondent’s (Amin’s) conduct leads this court to conclude that the respondent is engaged in illegitimate businessand in addition to the fact that themotor vehicle was used to commit an offence by conveying illicit drugs, this court is satisfied that the vehicle and the money in the account are proceeds of crime,” Justice Musyoki declared.
Consequently, the court issued final orders declaring the vehicle and bank funds as proceeds of crime and directed the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) to transfer the vehicle to the ARA.
The Absa Bank manager in Meru was ordered to wire the forfeited cash to the government’s Criminal Assets Recovery Fund.
Other forfeiture ruling by High Court
In an earlier news article, the High Court at Milimani ruled that a Daihatsu station wagon, which belonged to Hassan Kini was a proceed of crime and ordered its forfeiture to the ARA.
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ARA filed a civil forfeiture application on April 17, 2024, and argued that Kini had used illicit funds from narcotics trafficking to acquire the vehicle.
Investigations revealed that Kini had been arrested in September 2021 in Mombasa in possession of narcotics valued at KSh 1.6 million.
He had also received suspicious funds totaling KSh 6.4 million through his bank and M-Pesa accounts, which were allegedly used to launder money from the drug trade.
In both cases, the judges ordered the National Transport and Safety Authority to transfer the assets to ARA and reinforcing POCAMLA’s aim to prevent criminals from benefiting from illicit activities.
Source: TUKO.co.ke
