Five to Be Charged Friday Over Sh450 Million Loss in Interior Ministry

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 17 – Former senior officials at the State Department of Correctional Services will be arraigned in court on Friday over an alleged Sh450 million loss through fraudulent tender payments.

Image: EACC Offices, Nairobi

The EACC said this money was lost through payment for undelivered goods. One of the suspects is a cleaner who acted as a director of seven companies that are alleged to have received the lost funds.

 Deputy CEO Abdi Mohamud said eight other suspects are at large and are being asked to surrender to EACC offices by early Friday morning.

The five suspects are part of a group of 13 former officials from the State Department under the Interior Ministry implicated in the embezzlement. They were arrested on Thursday and are accused of facilitating tenders for the purported supply of food and rations to various prison stations by 17 companies linked to them.

The suspects are currently undergoing processing at the EACC Integrity Center Police Station. They will be detained at Kilimani Police Station pending arraignment before the Milimani Anti-Corruption Court on Friday, July 19, 2024, at 9 am,” EACC deputy CEO Abdi Mohamud said.

The offences were committed during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 financial years, with the nabbed suspects liable for the loss of Sh257 million out of the amount involved. 

Those in police cells include two accountants, a chief finance officer, and a cleaner doubling as a director of the seven companies involved.

The EACC has also identified eight more suspects at large: two company directors, three accountants, a prison warder, a former deputy commissioner of prisons, and a deputy director supply chain services.

The Commission hereby orders the following eight suspects who are yet to be arrested to report to EACC, Nairobi Integrity Center Offices or to the nearest EACC Office not later than Friday, July 19, 2024, 8 am, without fail,” Mohamud said.

EACC officers have now taken over processing the detained suspects and appealed to other suspects at large to present themselves for the ongoing investigation to ensure accountability and justice.