How NYS lost Sh11bn in supplies fraud

What you need to know:

  • Prosecution says Sh3.2bn was lost in 2015, while Sh8bn was stolen this year through illegal payments

  • In the second scandal, there are 51 suspects and the amount involved is Sh468 million.

  • The suspects include former Youth and Gender PS Lilian Omollo and former NYS Director-General Richard Ndubai.

More than Sh11 billion could have been siphoned from the National Youth Service through illegal payments in 2015 and this year.

Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Gitonga Riungu told a Nairobi court on Monday that similar tricks were used in both scandals now known as NYS I and NYS II.

He said that despite the reorganisation of the NYS, the officers appointed to detect and deter theft ended up breaching the trust bestowed upon them.

COMPLEXITY

Mr Riungu said that more than Sh3.2 billion was stolen in the NYS I scandal, while Sh8 billion was looted in NYS II. He said the complexity of the cases had forced the DPP to carry out investigations and prosecution in phases.

In NYS I, some the 26 suspects, among them former Principal Secretary Peter Mangiti, former NYS Director- General Nelson Githinji, businessman Ben Gethi and hairdresser Josephine Kabura, have denied stealing more than Sh791 million.

EXPLAIN

In the second scandal, there are 51 suspects and the amount involved is Sh468 million. The suspects include former Youth and Gender PS Lilian Omollo and former NYS Director-General Richard Ndubai.

Mr Riungu told Nairobi Chief Magistrate Douglas Ogoti that he would be calling experts to explain how the money was stolen from the youth agency.

On Monday, some 37 suspects, including Ms Omollo pleaded afresh to some 82 charges linked to the loss of Sh232 million at the NYS.

WITNESSES

The prosecution also withdrew charges against eight accused persons despite protestations from their lawyers, who wanted them acquitted under Section 210 of the Civil Procedure Code and not Section 87(a), which means they can still be rearrested.

The eight, who include a former acting Director-General at NYS, Mr Sammy Muchuki, Mr Rodgers Nzioka, a former head of Mechanical Transport Branch (MTB) procurement, and Mr Lucas Otieno, a former internal auditor at the Treasury, will now become state witnesses, according to Mr Riungu.

PROCUREMENT

Other suspects whose charges were withdrawn are Mr Josephat Njoroge, a former internal auditor at the Treasury, Mr Simon Kanyi, a former head of procurement at MTB, Mr Stephen Riungu Macharia, Mr Christopher Malala (a former accountant at NYS) and Ms Clara Mbao. Through lawyers Asa Nyakundi, Kelvin Mogeni and Kibiru Njenga, the eight said they had not recorded statements as witnesses and that the prosecution had only discovered it had nothing incriminating them. Mr Riungu, however, said some of them had agreed to be witnesses.

FRAUDELENTLY

“The case is against obscure but ruthless fly-by night briefcase companies or business entities, which swooped away a massive Sh231,942,758 million being just a tip of the Sh8 billion that was siphoned from the National Youth Service coffers for goods not delivered with the assistance of the accused persons, who were public officers in the State Department of Public Service and Youth,” said Mr Riungu.

The 37 pleaded to charges of conspiracy to commit an economic crime, abuse of office; wilful failure to comply with applicable procedures and guidelines relating to management of public funds, neglect of official duties and fraudulently making payments.

ACQUISITION

Other charges are breach of trust, making documents without authority, creating false documents, false accounting, fraudulent acquisition of public property, dealing with suspect property and money laundering.

Mr Riungu said the prosecution would try to prove each charge through primary evidence, expert witnesses, graphs and electronic evidence.