Graft scandals that stained 2018

Stacks of maize sacks at the Eldoret National Cereals and Produce Board depot. [Kevin Tunoi, Standard]

A number of corruption scandals involving billions of shillings rocked the country in 2018.

Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji and Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti have outdone themselves in unearthing major cases of suspected graft that started with the infamous National Youth Service II.

From the ongoing probe, up to Sh1 billion may have been siphoned out of the institution. Besides former Principal Secretary Lillian Omollo, four members of one family in Naivasha are suspected of receiving millions of shillings for non-existent goods and services.

Maize scandal

Principal Secretary Richard Lesiyampe was the highest-ranking official arrested and charged in connection to the maize scandal, as well as a number of National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) employees and traders. Besides enabling traders to make super profits, tens of traders supplied air to the NCPB silos and in the process pocketed billions.

Collusion between staff and traders saw fake receipts for non-existent maize deliveries. In some instances, investigators found that the same vehicle made improbable number of deliveries to different stores. An estimated Sh5.6 billion was lost.

NHIF scam

The loss of Sh1.5 billion from the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) directly affected millions of the insurer's members, some unable to access medical care because money intended to defray healthcare costs was lost.

At the heart of the scam is the award of a lucrative revenue collection tender to a third party. Suspended chief executive Geoffrey Mwangi and his predecessor Simeon Kirgotty have been charged.

The duo is among the senior employees suspected of picking the firm that NHIF paid 1.5 per cent on the amount collected as commission. Investigators are questioning why the insurer dropped the use of its own revenue collection platform that had been acquired in 2011 at more than Sh400 million for the costlier arrangement. As it would turn out, NHIF still paid about Sh450 million.

Kenya Power

Top executives at Kenya Power are facing theft charges relating to procurement of faulty equipment. Investigators believe that Sh400 million was lost in the fraud where senior managers pulled every stop to award the tenders for equipment, including transformers that were initially rejected for being faulty.

Kenya Pipeline

In a case before court, senior managers of Kenya Pipeline Company are listed as co-conspirators in the development of a Sh2 billion petroleum jetty in Kisumu. Former Managing Director Joe Sang and several senior executives were charged with undertaking the expensive project at inflated costs.

Investigations are also ongoing on suspected price escalations in the construction of the firm's new pipeline linking Mombasa and Nairobi. The contractor has billed KPC Sh18 billion over the original price of Sh48 billion.

SGR compensation

Other scams of the year include compensation for the people uprooted to make way for the Standard Gauge Railway. National Lands Commission Chairman Muhammad Swazuri has been charged alongside a former Kenya Railways Corporation managing director. Both are suspected of bungling the compensation scheme. Investigators suspect that some beneficiaries of the compensation did not own the land they purported to have been displaced from.