How Ksh 791 million was siphoned from NYS by adding zeros to transactions

How Ksh 791 million was siphoned from NYS by adding zeros to transactions

The saga surrounding how 791 million shillings was siphoned from the National Youth Service (NYS) has taken a new twist.

According to confidential documents in our possession, police investigations have established that the entries for payment through the government’s IFMIS system were manipulated by introducing zeroes on all the transactions, resulting in the theft of 712 million shillings.

The Principal Secretary for Planning Engineer Peter Mangiti has also been implicated in an attempted cover up of the fraudulent transactions.

On 5th June 2015, Devolution and Planning Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru blew the whistle on suspicious transactions at the NYS that led to the irregular payment of 791 million shillings between December 2014 and 1st April, 2015.

Four months down the line, investigations by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations have shown that 791 million shillings was fraudulently paid to three companies, all under the directorship of one Josephine Kabura Irungu.

The payments were in respect to the supply of road construction and building materials to the NYS.

According to documents in our possession, police investigations established that the entries for payment through the government’s IFMIS system were manipulated by adding zeroes on 18 transactions that were suspected to be fraudulent.

In one particular case, one of the three companies associated with Josephine Kabura Irungu, Form Home Builders, was to be paid 15.4 million shillings according to the LPOs at the NYS.

But that amount later leaped to 154.9 million shillings when it was keyed into the IFMIS system.

In light of the wide variance between the amounts keyed in through IFMIS and the amounts stated in the Local Purchase Orders at the NYS, 712 million shillings is now believed to have been stolen..

In a letter dated 10th September, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations recommended that 22 NYS officers, who include Adan Harakhe – the man at the centre of the scandal, be charged with fraud jointly with the purported suppliers.

The police investigations further pointed out the Principal Secretary for Planning Engineer Peter Mangiti as being among the officers bearing the highest responsibility for the fraudulent transactions.

According to an investigation report seen by Citizen TV, Harakhe told police that the PS, together with a Mr. Benson Gethi Wangui, attempted to dissuade him from following up on the fraudulent transactions.

The PS is said to have introduced Benson to Harakhe as an agent of the Cabinet Secretary to the National Treasury.

Meanwhile, NYS Director Doctor Nelson Githinji appeared for questioning by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission early Friday.

But even as more details on the NYS scandal emerge, the devolution CS has maintained her innocence.

“High standards will guide you on what to do and what not to do, what to say and what not to say, what to respond to and what not to respond to, what allegations to make and what allegation not to make. I personally believe I’m doing a great work. I am serving this country,” said Waiguru.

This as the bid by Nandi Hills Member of Parliament Alfred Keter to table a motion in Parliament to impeach the Devolution CS hangs in limbo.

On Tuesday, High Court Judge Joseph Onguto issued an order barring MPs from debating the motion.

The motion was challenged in court by the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) as being unconstitutional.

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