Police, Immigration Department can't account for Sh2.9bn, says report

Police and Immigration officials have failed to account for Sh2.9 billion collected by the Interior ministry in the last financial year, Auditor-General Edward Ouko has said.

In a report submitted to Parliament, the auditor-general says some of the money was possibly stolen by police who issued fake receipts to those paying for their services or failed to hand over the cash while the Immigration officials were poor at record-keeping.

Auditors also discovered that the Principal Secretary for Interior did not receive the revenue collected through Huduma Centres for the 2015/16 year.

The bulk of the poorly accounted for money was in the Immigration Department, whose records for the financial year showed that Sh2.63 billion was collected from the issuance of immigration visas and the charging of consular fees.

DECLARATION FORMS

But auditors found that entry declaration forms and application forms for visas could not be verified because of poor record-keeping at the Immigration offices at Jomo Kenyatta and Moi International airports.

“Further, the department explained that their inability to capture this data electronically is due to the lack of necessary software that is compatible with information maintained by international airlines,” the auditor-general said.

At the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, records showed that 543,108 Police Clearance Certificates, otherwise known as Certificates of Good Conduct, were issued.

With Sh1,000 charged for each, this would mean that Sh543.1 million was collected as revenue.

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

But the DCI’s financial statements showed that Sh350 million was collected resulting in a loss of Sh193 million that the auditor-general said “has not been explained or reconciled.”

The auditor-general said that from field visits, auditors found that Sh77.9 million was collected by various officers at counties and sub-counties for the hire of police services.

“However, the completeness of revenue collected cannot be confirmed since the Interior Department does not keep Miscellaneous Receipt Vouchers and the same has not been posted to cash books and Integrated Financial Management Information System ledger,” the auditor-general said.

One of the blatant cases was in Kisumu, where the branch of the National Social Security Fund there was indicated to have paid Sh4.4 million to the sub-county Administration Police Commander for Kisumu Central for the provision of armed security for their plot at Milimani.