Kobia confirms receiving memo on probe into loss of Sh900m
What you need to know:
The memo was written two days after President Uhuru Kenyatta summoned Dr Kobia to explain the scandal.
According to investigators’ understanding, corrupt officials created companies then assigned them contract numbers.
Whereas the numbers were valid and the pre-qualified firms genuine, the dummy companies were shells created to facilitate fraud.
Public Service Cabinet Secretary Margaret Kobia has acknowledged receiving a memo in which the ministry’s Principal Secretary says the loss of Sh900 million at the National Youth Service (NYS) is being investigated.
Dr Kobia appeared before the National Assembly’s Committee on Labour and Social Welfare on Thursday for interrogation following the loss of about Sh9 billion from the agency’s accounts.
“The Cabinet secretary confirmed to the committee that she indeed received the memo and that it indicated that the vouchers forwarded for investigation to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations amounted to Sh900 million. The PS did not at any one point say that only Sh900 million has been lost,” Dr Kobia said in a statement signed by her ministry’s principal communication officer John Kairu.
INCORRECT
“The PS was answering a question about the accuracy of media reports regarding the existence of a memo written by the principal secretary to her office in respect to the NYS investigation,” she went on.
In the memo, the PS, Ms Lilian Mbogo-Omollo, says the amount being investigated is Sh900 million and not Sh8 billion as claimed by the National Intelligence Service director-general. “The allegation that there are 13 vouchers amounting to Sh8 billion paid to non-existent companies for non-existent supplies to the NYS is incorrect,” Ms Omollo said.
PRE-QUALIFIED
The memo was written two days after President Uhuru Kenyatta summoned Dr Kobia to explain the scandal that is threatening to make a joke of the Sh791 million NYS scam, which broke out at the agency in his first term in office.
According to investigators’ understanding, corrupt officials created companies then assigned them contract numbers. Whereas the numbers were valid and the pre-qualified firms genuine, the dummy companies were shells created to facilitate fraud.
