Kenya Police officers 'lining their pockets with cash bail'

NAIROBI: The Auditor General has exposed how cash bails deposited in police stations have become an avenue for police officers to enrich themselves.

In his report, Auditor General Edward Ouko says that cash bail refunds amounting to Sh60 million cannot be accounted for in just a handful police stations in Nairobi.

Shockingly, the auditor further claims that some police stations use counterfeit cash bail books, whose source he could not ascertain.

The report says an examination of a sample of cash bail books from the police stations shows that a total of Sh70.4 million was collected. Out of the amount, Sh4.1 million was purportedly forfeited to courts and Sh6.2 million surrendered to Nairobi County Police Headquarters.

The difference of Sh60 million is purported to have been refunded to accused persons at Kasarani, Lang'ata, Athi River Weighbridge, Industrial Area, Nairobi Area Traffic and Central Police Stations.

"In addition, examination of cash bail records and returns maintained at Divisional Traffic Officer, Industrial Area revealed that 592 and 421 receipts were missing in cash bail return records during financial years 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 respectively," the report notes.

• .

  Keep Reading

• 
  Counties disregard SRC directive, spend millions on official housing
• 
  End of an era: Hilton finally up for sale, taking with it nostalgic city memories
• 
  Puzzle of county employees who share the same bank accounts
• 
  Audit flags Sh3m county paid workers recruited irregularly

"However, an evaluation of the purported refunds shows that they were made at police stations contrary Section 9 (ii) and (x) of Chapter 49 of the Kenya Police Service Standing Orders that require such refunds to be made after court proceedings."

The report says the purported refunds were not supported with any evidence of a signature of the witness, court proceedings, stamp and signature of Court Clerk.

"Instead, the signature of witnesses are those of police officers, making it difficult to confirm that refunds were made in respect of correct recipients. In the circumstances, the existence and disposition of Sh60 million could not be ascertained."

The audit revealed that 205 cash bail books in Nariobi Area Traffic, Axle Load Enforcement Unit, Highway Patrol Unit, Road Safety Unit, Kiamumbi, Kasarani and Athi River stations were found to be counterfeits.

According to the report, 144 cash bail books were missing in Lang'ata, Karen, Buruburu, Athi River, Makadara, Traffic headquarters and Nairobi Area Police Stations

The report also says that although court receipts showed Sh2,789,500 cash bails were forfeited to the State, no evidence of arrest warrant was made available for audit verification.

It showed that Sh10,361,500 surrendered to Kenya Police headquarters could not be confirmed and was not accounted for in the statement of assets and liabilities for Ministry of Interior.

The report says revenue records maintained at the offices of Kenya Police County Commander, Nairobi, revealed that revenue amounting to Sh4.3 million from approval of public service vehicle (PSV) licences was collected, but was not surrendered to the ministry's headquarters for onward transfer to the Exchequer.

"In addition, the county commander does not maintain a cashbook. Therefore, it was not possible to undertake a cash survey," the report says.

Further, the report indicates that Sh14.4 million collected for approval of PSV licences have not been surrendered to the ministry's headquarters.

Examination of records in some police stations in and around Nairobi revealed that unclaimed cash bails amounting to Sh23.3 million was submitted to Commandant of Kenya Police, Nairobi.