Payment to murky collector probed
What you need to know:
- This was despite the fact that at the time of payment, the company had been in existence for only four days. It was registered on December 16, 2014 and an account opened on December 20.
- The same day the account was opened, Sh5,000 was deposited into the account by a customer only identified as Mr Mohammed. Later in the day, a Sh7,612, 540 deposit through cheque number 134 was made at the Cooperative Bank, City Hall branch.
- The County Finance Director Jimmy Mutuku Kiamba has admitted that the payment was fraudulent but maintained he was the one who intervened and stopped the payment.
- The letter read: “We hereby instruct you to refund the said monies to the county account pending finalization of the investigations which have launched with our investigations department.”
The Nairobi County government is expected to release a report Tuesday on an incident in which a bank detected and stopped part of a fraudulent payment that could have led to the loss of at least Sh45million.
The county had given a company Sh7.6 million as partial payment for services that were never delivered. According to documents seen by the Sunday Nation, Peposi Freight Kenya Ltd allegedly collected garbage for the county and was to be paid a total of Sh45 million.
This was despite the fact that at the time of payment, the company had been in existence for only four days. It was registered on December 16, 2014 and an account opened on December 20.
The same day the account was opened, Sh5,000 was deposited into the account by a customer only identified as Mr Mohammed. Later in the day, a Sh7,612, 540 deposit through cheque number 134 was made at the Cooperative Bank, City Hall branch.
Bank officials became suspicious and asked the county why the payment was made the same day the account was opened. Preliminary investigations also cast doubt on the authenticity of documents used to open the account.
At the county level , it was also discovered that other suspects had forged the signature of Dr Leah Oyake, the County’s Chief Officer, Environment and Forestry.
County Secretary Lillian Ndegwa said City Hall is investigating the incident and a report would be released on Tuesday.
She added that a two-year audit would also be conducted to find out if other cases of fraud of this nature had been committed.
FRAUDULENT
The County Finance Director Jimmy Mutuku Kiamba has admitted that the payment was fraudulent but maintained he was the one who intervened and stopped the payment. He added that on December 30, he wrote a letter to the Cooperative Bank City Hall branch manager and instructed her to refund the money to the county account until investigations were completed.
The letter read: “We hereby instruct you to refund the said monies to the county account pending finalization of the investigations which have launched with our investigations department.”
Mr Kiamba alleged the use of “defective account opening documents” by two individuals. Mr Kiamba claimed City Hall officials thought they were paying for the services that were rendered by a company that had been contracted for garbage collection.
Investigations have been launched into how the tender was awarded and who approved the payments. Also being investigated is the authenticity of the Certificate of Incorporation of the company involved.
This comes even as Mr Kiamba’s accounts were frozen by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission for unexplained wealth running into hundreds of millions. Mr Kiamba continues to serve at City Hall after he obtained a court injunction although he is still under investigation.
Additional reporting by Otiato Guguyu
