A businessman has been ordered by a court to surrender his luxury car, which he used to transport illegal elephant tusks in Laikipia County, handing the State a partial victory in an asset recovery case tied to wildlife crimes.

The High Court ruled that the Mercedes-Benz vehicle linked to Jackson Mbugua Burugu was an instrument of crime after it was seized while transporting four elephant tusks weighing 69.2 kilogrammes.

“The motor vehicle was arrested while being used to commit an offence, and as such, I find no difficulty in holding that it was an instrumentality of crime and therefore liable to forfeiture,” the court said, ordering its forfeiture to the government.

The court directed the Director General of the National Transport and Safety Authority to transfer and vest motor vehicle registration number KBE 416Y to the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA), on behalf of the government.

The case was filed by the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA), which sought to seize the vehicle and two plots in Mathare North, Nairobi, arguing they were proceeds of illegal wildlife trade.

ARA Investigators told the court that Burugu was arrested in October 2021 at Enasoit in Olgoji Conservancy, Laikipia, while transporting the tusks.

He had also faced earlier criminal charges at the magistrate courts in Nyahururu and Nanyuki in 2017 and 2021 related to illegal dealings in endangered wildlife.

ARA argued that proceeds from the illicit trade were laundered through bank accounts and used to acquire assets, including land and a vehicle.

Burugu denied the claims and any link to the alleged illegal activity, saying he runs a hardware business and that his assets were bought from legitimate income.

Although he did not expressly deny having been arrested and charged for illegal poaching, the respondent swore that the charges were malicious and false.

However, the court distinguished the car and the land, exposing the evidentiary threshold in civil forfeiture proceedings.

The court found direct evidence linking the vehicle to the crime, noting it was recovered during the poaching incident and that the respondent did not dispute the circumstances of its seizure.

“It cannot be a coincidence that the respondent was arrested in Laikipia County on both occasions, trading in endangered species and their trophies. The respondent has not denied that the vehicle was impounded while carrying the elephant tusks,” the judge said, pointing to repeated arrests involving wildlife trophies.

However, the State’s attempt to seize the two Mathare plots failed, highlighting limits in asset tracing where timelines and ownership chains are unclear.

The court found the land was purchased in 2014, years before the alleged criminal activity in 2017, and later sold to a third party who demonstrated a legitimate source of funds.

“The applicant has failed to establish that the landed properties are proceeds of crime,” the court ruled.

The buyer, identified in court as John Wambugu Maina, convinced the court he was an innocent purchaser for value without notice.

He showed he financed the Sh21 million purchase through the sale of land in Murang’a for Sh48.5 million, with the transaction handled through advocates and without any encumbrances.

The court warned that forfeiting the plots would unfairly punish the buyer while leaving the seller to retain the proceeds.

“The person who will be punished in that scenario would be the interested party who will lose the landed properties despite his money being clean and accounted for,” it said in the split judgment, disrupting criminal enterprises and protecting legitimate property rights.

The court also questioned gaps in ARA’s investigations, noting the agency had not shown any link between Burugu’s finances and the 2014 land purchase.

It further observed inconsistencies around the plots’ documentation, including doubts raised by Nairobi County over their records.

The decision comes amid sustained efforts to curb poaching networks, where vehicles are often used to move trophies across regions.

→ jwangui@ke.nationmedia.com

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