Some of the victims of the Shakahola massacre have been found with missing body organs.
Fresh documents filed in court indicate that the victims may have had their organs harvested before they were buried in mass graves.
“Post-mortem reports have established missing organs in some of the bodies of the victims so far exhumed,” Chief Inspector Martin Munene said in an application.
Police are seeking to link alleged cult leader Paul Mackenzie to human organ harvesting and trafficking. Mr Munene said many of Mr Mackenzie’s followers are missing and are suspected to have died mysteriously.
“Both pastors [Mr Mackenzie and Pastor Ezekiel Odero] are suspected to have a close link,” said Mr Munene.
The investigator also said that the process of identifying the victims through DNA profiling is still being done since post-mortem process has not been completed.
“It is believed that trade on human body organs has been well-coordinated involving several players. It is suspected that more bodies may be still buried in the expansive land covering more than 1,000 acres,” said the officer.
At the same time, a Milimani court has issued an order freezing over 20 bank accounts belonging to Pastor Ezekiel and his New Life Prayer Centre and Church. The court also allowed the Financial Investigation’s Unit to probe bank and M-Pesa accounts belonging to the televangelist and his church. The accounts are held at Cooperative Bank, NCBA Bank, Equity bank, KCB bank, HFC Bank and Safaricom Kenya Ltd. Some of the accounts are in dollars and Euros.
The police have also been allowed to access bank statements, account signatories, RTGS (Swift) transactions from 1 January, 2017 to 30 April, 2023, and any other relevant document that may aid the officer to complete investigations on suspected case of money laundering.
“An order be and is hereby issued compelling the managers of the banks and Safaricom to respectively nominate authorised persons to record statements, make and give the officer a certificate of production of electronic evidence generated electronically or from any electronic gadget that shall be given in compliance with the order above,” said the court document.
The court also issued orders forbidding the withdrawal of money so as to preserve the funds for 30 days to allow the police to complete investigations.
In an affidavit to support the freezing of the bank accounts, the officer noted that Pastor Ezekiel’s banks accounts have been receiving huge cash transactions, money that the police suspect to be from victims who were duped into selling their properties and giving the money to Pastor Mackenzie. Mr Munene said Pastor Ezekiel opened several bank accounts in various banks and expressed fears that the monies will be withdrawn if freeze orders are not issued. “Investigations will enable the DCI to collate confirmatory evidence regarding financial flow as per the allegations,” he said.
However, a team of eight lawyers representing Pastor Ezekiel have vowed to challenge the account freeze orders, accusing the DCI of forum shopping. The lawyers attempted to raise the issue before Mombasa Presiding Judge Olga Sewe who was handling another petition where Pastor Ezekiel had asked the court to intervene by stopping the government from freezing his accounts.
