Four KEBS officers arrested over Ksh.12 million fraud

Four Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) officers have been arrested in connection with a Ksh.12 million fraud.

The four are among seven KEBS officers based in Kisumu, accused of stealing the money from the agency’s account.

Three other officers are being sought, with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) indicating those arrested will be charged on Tuesday with fraud and stealing from the public.

Those arrested include Jacqueline Njeri Kangiri, who was the then KEBS Regional Manager Kisumu region but was moved to Nairobi to head the testing department, and Catherine Nangila Wanyonyi who worked at the market surveillance in Kisumu. Both were arrested on Friday and released on Ksh.100,000 cash bail.

Others are Linet Bitengo Nyanchama the then accountant in the Kisumu Lake region before being moved to the Coast region and Daniel Ambrose osumba equally an accountant then before his transfer to Nairobi.

The four will be charged on Tuesday in Kisumu for alleged fraud and stealing over Ksh.12 million while working at KEBS, Kisumu office between 2017 and 2018.

The DCI is on the hunt for three other officers implicated in the alleged fraud scheme including Erick Kibet Sawe the then assistant accountant, KEBS Kisumu office, Rose Wangui Gacheru the principal accountant and head of reconciliation department and Florence Awino Ouma who is the principal quality assurance officer at the standards body in Kisumu.

The seven officers face charges of abuse of office, conspiracy to defraud, false accounting, stealing, neglect of official duty and conspiracy to defeat justice

They are accused of conspiring to divert Ksh.12,791,126 from KEBS accounts for personal gain and unknown payments that were not supported by any documentation.