DCI on the alert as Sakaja's City Hall grapples with fraud
The Nairobi City County Government (NCCG) headquarters along City Hall Way on 16 October 2022.
The Nairobi City County government is on the radar of investigative authorities after it emerged that millions of taxpayers’ shillings could have been paid to nine companies that supplied nothing.
In a letter from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to the Nairobi City County Acting Secretary Patrick Analo, City Hall is required to provide supporting documents for the services provided by the listed companies and the relevant budget approvals by the departments.
“This office is investigating a case of suspected money laundering whereby the county government is suspected to have made fraudulent payments to the companies yet there were no services rendered. We ask your office to furnish us with the relevant budget approvals and requisitions by the departments relating to the above payments,” read part of the DCI letter dated July 21, 2023.
Other documents required include the tender documents and the award letter for the contracts to supply the services.
Apart from providing the supporting documentation, the DCI is has also requested a number of chief officers and accountants who made the controversial payment to report to the DCI headquarters in Kiambu Road to record statements.
The letter by the DCI has lifted once again the lid on corruption allegations in the capital city. A separate revelation also alleges that the amount of money lost would run into millions after it emerged that unscrupulous accountants have been hiving off budgets even from other departments where they are not in charge to pay the ghost companies.
In an internal memo seen by Sunday Nation and addressed to the County Executive Committee member for Finance Charles Kerich, the Acting County Secretary Patrick Analo acknowledges several complaints of a number of accountants hiving off budgets to pay ghost companies.
“We are in receipt of several complaints from the county chief officers on the issue of budgets being hived off by accountants from departments that are not assigned to their departments. This is to request you to address issues of concern to all the accountants and remind you that anyone found to be infringing on another sector budget will be put to task individually,” Mr Analo said in the memo dated June 20, 2023.
The Nairobi City County government was not immediately available for comment concerning the payment by time of going to the press.
Multiple calls and texts to Governor Johnson Sakaja and Mr Kerich were not replied to.
A detective who is among those handling the case said he is not authorised to speak to the media concerning the investigation.
The memo also instructs Mr Kerich to share a report on the payments being made by the departments, the payment requests and the work plans for sectors on a weekly basis.
It remains unclear how the accountants managed to practice their mandate beyond the departments that they are assigned.
A source privy to the investigations at City Hall, but who spoke to us in confidence, told Sunday Nation that a number of accountants have made it a habit to collude with senior county officials to request payment to be made to the proxy companies. The source also claimed the amount under probe runs into millions of shillings.
This is the second time that the Nairobi City County government is on the radar of investigative authorities. A few weeks ago, the Controller of Budget moved fast to stop a planned payment of billions of shillings to law firms as pending bills.
A Sh1.4 billion shilling payment was flagged off after the Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakangó said there was lack of supporting documents for the payment. She requested for information on the specific cases handled by the law firms as well as the judgments delivered. Ms Nyakango also said in the letter addressed to Mr Kerich that the invoices created by the county were fake and would not be matched with the payment vouchers.
This came even as a cash crisis continues at City Hall over delays by the CoB to release funds to the county. Last week, the MCA’s boycotted assembly sittings for a whole week over Sh60 million allowances owed to them. A fuel crisis has also hit the county, affecting its fleet of vehicles as the county waits for the funds to be released.
