Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has termed claims by Kibwezi West lawmaker Mwengi Mutuse that he has acquired Sh5.2 billion worth of wealth as outrageous.
The DP alleged that Mutuse was “just given documents to sign” and that had he been given time to look at them, he would have saved himself the embarrassment.
He said when he was at the bedside of his brother, former Nyeri Governor Nderitu Gachagua, when he died, leaving a will which appointed him an executor with two others.
“All this money coming to me was from my dead brother; I am being told they are proceeds of crime,” he told a media briefing.
He said the three were tasked to manage his late brother’s estates, among them Olive Gardens Hotel in Nairobi, Queens Gate Serviced Apartments in Nairobi, Vipingo Beach Resort in Kilifi, and Treetops Hotel in Nyeri.
“It is these properties that Mutuse alleged that I acquired them after becoming DP,” he stated.
He said the claims by Mutuse are the “most embarrassing allegation an MP can table before the House.”
Gachagua is faced with allegations of abuse of office and gross violation of the Constitution. They include the purchase of the Outspan Hotel at the Aberdares for Sh535 million.
Mutuse has also listed Gachagua's sudden purchase of 40 acres of land in Kamburaini, Nyeri, where he is said to have constructed a helicopter landing facility. Also on the list are 80 acres of land purchased in Meru, a dairy farm in Nyandarua, and land in Embakasi, Nairobi, bought through proxy companies.