Court fines government accountant Sh17m for graft

Chief Justice, Walter Onnoghen had been scheduled to attend the Code of Conduct Tribunal. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

A former Makueni accountant has been ordered to pay a fine of Sh16.7 million or serve a jail term of four years over fraud.

Wycliff Marege Mitema was found guilty of three counts of graft by the Milimani Anti-Corruption court on Monday.

The court heard that Mr Mitema obtained the money fraudulently between October 13, 2008 and September 30, 2009, while serving as a district accountant.

The court found him guilty of acquiring Sh3.8 million belonging to the government.

Chief Magistrate Lawrence Mugambi imposed the mandatory sentence of the fine in line with section 48(2) (b) of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act.

According to the, if the conduct that constituted the offence resulted in both a benefit and loss described in subsection, mandatory fine is two times the sum of the amount of the benefit and the amount of the loss.

Mr Mugambi said the culprit will pay a fine of Sh1 million or serve one year, in default.

He said he will pay three times the amount he acquired in line with the Act or serve four years in jail.

On the second count, he was accused of failing to comply with the law and was fined Sh500,000 or serve another year in jail. The charges stated that he failed to comply with the Government Financial Management Act.

Mr Mitema faced an additional charge of abuse of office by benefiting himself but the court acquitted him of the charge.

The case was investigated by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission in 2012 and the accused who was an accountant at the Makueni District Treasury subsequently charged in Court.

Investigations on the loss of the money were launched in 2009 after a report by the Makueni   District Internal Auditor because it was taken over by EACC.

The Commission found that that Mr Mitema had advanced himself money fraudulently by failing to submit imprest vouchers as required by the regulations