Interior Cabinet Secretary on Tuesday visited the National Transport and Safety Authority offices over production of fake documents.
The CS was accompanied by top ministry officials.
Matiang’i read a riot act and directed them to immediately put their house in order.
He held an hour-long meeting with the board members before leaving.
The CS said he will be back in two weeks.
“There will be no Christmas for the staff until you fix this mess. It is a shame that the authority is in the negative news all the time,” he said.
His visit came as officials said a section of staff kept off office as police went on with investigations into the alleged production of fake documents.
Detectives visited the NTSA offices on Monday and Tuesday for investigations but did not find some staff.
The officers were targeting staff working in the IT section and some managers to understand the process an applicant goes through in getting documents.
The team was informed most of the staff were out on duties in an operation launched by the authority to ensure road safety in the festive season.
The detectives are focusing on among others, a new trend at the authority whereby forced transfer of documents happens prompting fraud.
This happens when a vehicle is taken from the owner over, among others, default of loan and sold to a new buyer.
However, for this to happen, the owner must inform NTSA, provide an original logbook, copy of ID, an affidavit and a Kenya Revenue Authority PIN, the one of the new owner and a police tape lift report.
Police say the process among others has, however, been happening with the aid of insiders hence the new probe.
NTSA moved the registration of vehicles online in 2017, as part of a solution to many complaints that emerged over fraud in the sector.
The Transport Integrated Management System enables applicants to register and transfer vehicles easily.
It, however, seems to be prone to breakdowns that police believe gives room to infiltration and compromise.
Investigations show this has continued to give room for production of cloned number plates, illegally registering vehicles whose tax has not been paid and illegal transfer of vehicles and production of fake logbooks.
Banks have raised concern with the authorities over the said fraud, which prompted the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to post detectives at NTSA.
The latest move came after over 450 genuine motor vehicle logbooks were recovered at a cyber cafe in Nairobi on December 17.
Police said some officials at NTSA are part of an organised criminal gang that is behind the syndicate hence putting the lives of many unsuspecting motorists at risk.
“Detectives acting on information busted two men in a cybercafe in Ngara, along Desai Road,” officials at the DCI said.
This is the latest incident to be unravelled and involves the agency officials.
In 2019, some top managers at the authority were arrested following investigations on how a car that had been used in a terror incident at the Dusit D2 complex had a registration of another car.
Last year, several complaints were lodged by motorists after they realised their vehicles had been transferred without their knowledge. Some were used in crime.
This prompted some structural changes within the authority. The board was disbanded and a new one set up.
DCI said investigations show the syndicate was in cahoots with corrupt officials from NTSA, who transfer ownership of the cars illegally.
Police said at the cyber, an application of a logbook only takes a few hours before it is delivered by an NTSA official.
“The mastermind of the syndicate working in cahoots with officials at the country’s motor vehicle registration body, illegally develops affidavits and commissions them, before they are sent to contacts at NTSA for forced transfer of motor vehicles,” DCI said.
Details of the logbook are then processed within a few minutes without the actual owner’s knowledge.
Detectives established that the syndicate develops falsified importation documents from a renowned car dealer and Electronic Tax Register receipts.
NTSA corporate affairs and communications manager Esther Kago declined to comment on the issue as it is under probe.
Police who raided the cyber cafe said it was reminiscent of a publishing house turned into a motor vehicle registration centre.
DCI boss George Kinoti said the transfer of a motor vehicle is finalised exposing the possibility of one’s car being transferred without his knowledge.
Logbooks bearing the original seals and assorted motor vehicle registration documents were recovered.
Kinoti said there is a new crime that is gaining ground in the city.
He said unscrupulous businesses men working with employees in money lending institutions have devised a new way of defrauding unsuspecting Kenyans and financial institutions.
The gangs have built a shadowy network of hard-to-trace individuals, incorporating officials at NTSA, officials said.
Kinoti said a local bank had last year financed a motorist, to acquire a lorry after depositing Sh1.2 million.
However, the ownership of the lorry was later changed without the knowledge of the owners and auctioned.
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