We used police vehicle to ferry our maize Police vetting told

The vetting of police officers based in Rift Valley on Tuesday unearthed questionable money transfers between officers working as driving test examiners in the Traffic Department.

In a vetting panel chaired by National Police Service Commission (NPSC) commissioner Ronald Musengi at a Nakuru hotel, officers who worked as Driving Test Examiners were at pains to explain the source of mobile money transfers to fellow officers.

When Patrick Katheka appeared before the panel, he denied claims that while serving in Eldoret, he was in a business partnership with his colleague, Polycarp Ochieng.

“I was not in partnership with Ochieng and the other officers. We used to buy cereals separately,” Katheka explained.

Katheka revealed to the panel that they were using a police vehicle to ferry maize from Kitale to Eldoret.

Katheka, who has worked as a Driving Test Examiner in Meru, Eldoret, and Nakuru, was put to task over questionable M-Pesa transactions when he was moved to the traffic department.

The transactions showed that he received money through M-Pesa from a truck driver plying Mombasa-Kampala route.

The officer, when questioned on M-Pesa transfers to various officers, told the panel that the moneys were sent after one of his colleagues was aggrieved and needed the officers’ support.

The panel also questioned Ochieng over his Ksh 543,000 M-Pesa transfers between him and Mr Katheka, who was a Chief Inspector based in Nakuru.

“Katheka is a friend and my neighbour in Nairobi. We often assist each other when in need for cash,” Ochieng told the officers.

However, Katheka, despite transacting over 150 M-Pesa transfers with Ochieng, told the panel he could not recall the transactions and the reason for the M-Pesa transfers, which were captured in his statements submitted to the panel.

Ochieng’s M-Pesa statement also showed deposits to his M-Pesa account worth Ksh 640,250 from an M-Pesa agent “Vsolution” in Eldoret, which he defended as proceeds from the maize business.