Fresh details show Youth Fund lost Ksh 1 billion through illegal payments

MPs are this week expected to probe how about one billion shillings channeled through a Youth Fund account at Chase Bank was used. The Public Investments Committee that has unearthed shocking details on the theft of 180 million shillings is now turning its focus on the remaining 800 million which MPs now believe was irregularly paid to several companies.

Fresh information indicates that about one billion shillings was transacted through the fund’s fixed deposit account held with Chase Bank, out of which about 800 million shillings use remains unclear.

Of special interest to the MPs is that information obtained in the probe has pointed to a deliberate plot to siphon the money, with revelations that the fund’s chairman Bruce Odhiambo appointed suspended CEO Catherine Namuye as the sole signatory to the account.

The MPs now believe the account was opened without Treasury’s approval with the sole purpose of siphoning public funds. The bulk of the 180 million shillings was paid to Quarandum Ltd on Namuye’s approval.

Suspicions are high that some of firms were proxies to facilitate payments that eventually ended in the pockets of top Fund officials.

Among the firms of interest to the MPs are; Duchess Park Development Company, a real estate company, Live Gigs, Giggs Savvy Plus Limited and Gigtych Africa Limited among others.

To shed light into the payments, PIC will call the company’s directors as well as the fund’s board of directors. Also slated to appear before the Parliamentary Committee this week are an advocate who handled the transactions, the State Corporations Advisory Committee, former Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru and former Planning Principal Secretary Eng. Peter Mangiti.

The possible loss of 800 million shillings has many parallels with the National Youth Service scam in which almost an equal amount of 791 million shillings was stolen.

Report by Mercy Kandie