NYS boss gave out cash payment system password Muhoro Ndegwa

Directorate of Criminal Investigations boss, Ndegwa Muhoro, says his recommendations to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to prosecute the National Youth Service (NYS) Deputy Director General, Adan Harakhe, were ignored.

Speaking when he appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday, October 5, Muhoro said that the call for Harakhe’s arrest was guided by the suspicion that he may have given the IFMS password to someone or engineered the entire NYS scandal.

The DCI boss noted that investigations had shown that Harakhe’s computer had no password, meaning he had either shared the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) password with someone else or it might have been stolen.

“The problem that we had with Harakhe was the theft of his computer password. The systems are now hack proof and any password user must alert relevant authorities before any transaction is made,” Muhoro told the committee.

“During investigation on the six computers that have IFMS system, it was discovered that Harakhe’s computer was logged in by different user names every time he logged in. Investigation also recovered LPOs that showed the owners of the six companies in IFMS servers involved in the fraudulent transactions.”

The investigations boss said that the probe further indicated that after IFMS system was hacked, documents were altered to confuse the figures.

“Figures were changed with zeros being added to transactions, with one transaction showing Ksh 24 million transaction was changed to Ksh 240 million while in another, a transaction worth Ksh 20 million was changed to Ksh 200 million.”

On Kibera upgrade project that has since stalled, it was revealed that Ksh78 million was not approved.

The money that was meant to buy material used to construct Kibera road was collected from government sites and carried by NYS trucks with construction work being done by NYS personnel.

The 78 million was, however, paid to unknown person (s).

Further investigation, according to Muhoro, also revealed that Josephine Kabura Irungu was paid Ksh7 million with the money being deposited into three accounts.

PAC called on Muhoro to provide information on a special report of Auditor General regarding NYS bank accounts.

Last week, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) revealed that more than Ksh1.8 billion was lost in NYS scandal, and not Ksh791 million as had been earlier reported.

EACC chief, Halakhe Waqo, further revealed that the web of NYS scandal entangles many senior personalities, among them Members of Parliament and top government officials.

One of the prime suspects in the saga, Ben Gethi told the committee Tuesday, October 4 that there was a well-orchestrated attempt to shield powerful individuals involved in the saga including former Devolution Cabinet Secretary, Ann Waiguru.

He said the investigations were reactive and accused the DPP of ordering a forgery of documents to implicate him.

“I can account for my business. What we have even in court is stories, nothing will come out of it. DPP asked Mugwanja to fake vouchers. This is a reactive investigation,” said Gethi.