Murang’a MCAs caught in fake foreign travel deals return money

 

Members of Murang'a County Assembly accused of falsifying foreign travel allowance forms to the tune of Sh62.5 million have refunded the money.

Documents obtained by The Standard show that the money illegally pocketed as allowances, in some cases for non-existent trips abroad, was now in the safe custody of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) asset recovery account.

Sources privy to the investigations said the MCAs and 20 other county officers who were grilled by the commission in February last year, have surrendered the excess of what they were entitled to receive.

But the MCAs, who made six foreign trips in 2014, are not off the hook as EACC had recommended their individual prosecution by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). The DPP, The Standard has learnt, is still pursuing the matter.

Fake documents

Some MCAs were said to have used fake documents indicating they travelled for five days, yet they were in the country all along.

It was further claimed that some inflated the number of days they travelled to receive allowances.

According to the Auditor General’s report for 2014-2015 released last year, the MCAs travelled to Tanzania, the Netherlands, Uganda, South Africa, Israel and Singapore at a cost of Sh62.5 million.

The Standard has documents sent to one of the MCAs Thursday showing EACC had written in June requiring them to refund the money. One MCA who travelled to South Africa returned more than Sh29,000 from a Sh225,150 imprest advanced by the assembly.

The commission launched investigations following a public outcry after it was found that some of the trips were fake.