A senate oversight committee has implored the EACC to fast track the probe on the Sh59 million fraud in Kilifi to unlock the recovery of the cash.
The County Public Accounts and Investments Committee in the Senate has appealed to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to fast track a Sh51 million fraud in Kilifi to unlock the recovery of the cash. This follows the lamentations by the county government that the agency was hindering the recovery of the money. Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi explained to the nine-member panel committee on Wednesday that after EACC obtained a court order stopping any negotiations, the recovery of the cash stalled.
“The commission went to court and obtained a stay order. All the civil cases that we had filed in court to recover the money were all affected and now there is nothing we can do,” Kingi said.
Kingi pointed out that an out of court agreement had led to all firms agreeing to refund the cash. The firms had reportedly manipulated the financial system and transferred the cash to their own private accounts. Despite this, Kingi said that EACC moved in and launched investigation into the fraud that involved more than Sh59 million. He further said that some Sh8.3 million had already been recovered at the time the commission obtained the order, adding were it not for the order the county would have recivered the amount.
In a rejoinder, the EACC liaison officer attached to the committee, Eve Wachuka, said the commission sought the stay order to freeze any negotiations to allow it investigate criminal aspect of the matter and bring the perpetrators to book. According ti reports, the electronic money transfer system – Integrated Financial Management System (IFMIS) had been manipulated by crooks who had gained access to the county’s bank accounts back in 2016. They stole passwords belonging to 10 officials and used them to access system where they transferred the cash from the county’s account at the Central Bank of Kenya.
Kingi has insisted that out of the Sh59 million, Sh8.3 million has been recovered . He was also put to task to explain the irregular transfer of Sh105.3 out of Sh163.3 million from the retention bank account to the payment of salaries.
According to the explanation,
“The amounts paid were irregularly charged to retention account as the account is supposed to hold only retention money for contractors,” reads the report.
In his defence, Kingi said the funds were channelled towards payments of salaries owing to the delays in the disbursement of exchequer by the National Treasury.
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