Kenyan court declines to unfreeze genocide suspect Kabuga’s assets

The High Court in Kenya has ruled that the assets of Felicien Kabuga, a Rwandan tycoon suspected of financing the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi,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 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 against the Tutsi.

The registered owners of the property in Nairobi are Kabuga and his wife Mukazitoni Josephine, who died in 2017 in Belgium.

Endorsed preservation orders

Justice Mainaendorsed the 2008 preservation orders issued by Judge Muga Apondi (retired, meaning the rent income will continue being deposited in a government account.

The property was frozen following an application by Kenya’s Attorney-General, who was enforcing resolutions for member states of the UN to assist in tracingsuspects inthecase of the Rwanda genocide against the Tutsi.

“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 them aside,” 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 Kabuga’s case at the UN tribunal.

Kabuga’s wife, in a response filed in court before her death, argued that the Kenyan government had not proventhe property was acquired through proceeds of crime or was unlawfully acquired.

She had also argued that there was proof that Kabuga used the income generated fromthe property to avoid arrest and interfere with the prosecution’s witnesses.

UN tribunal

Kabuga, an 87-year-old businessman and former radio station owner, is currently on trial before a UN tribunal at the International Criminal Court in theNetherlands over accusations of financing and promoting mass killings in Rwanda in 1994.

Court papers indicate that the house’s monthly rental income is Ksh84,000 ($618 and that before the filing of the case in 2008, the rent was being collected by Kabuga’s agents and remitted to him.

Initially, the rent wascollected by Kenya Trust Company Ltd,which would deposit itin Kabuga’s account at the Commercial Bank of Africa (now trading as NCBA Bank, in Nairobi.

That account was later closed and Kenya Trust Company Ltd started wiring KSh296,000 ($2,178 quarterly to another account owned by Kabuga’s wife in Belgium.

Avoiding capture

At the time of filing the application to freeze the property in 2008, the then Kenya’s Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko expressed fear that Kabuga was using the proceeds toavoid capture and evade justice.

The application sought to freeze the assets of Kabuga and his wife following a request to the Kenyan Attorney-General from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda based in Arusha, Tanzania.

The UN court had also claimed there was evidence Kabuga had entered Kenya, applied for residency status and opened a bank account. Kenyadenied the allegations.

Last month, Kenya’s Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji informed the court that 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, Kabuga declined to append his signature or thumbprint.