Auditor General Edward Ouko exposes theft of Sh290m at the Judiciary

Auditor General Edward Ouko has questioned the Judicial Service Commission's (JSC) Sh290 million expenditure during the last financial year.

According to a report tabled in Parliament yesterday, the commission was unable to account for the money, which it claims was used to pay JSC board members and buy goods and services in the 2015-2016 financial year.

Mr Ouko in his report noted that the commission incurred expenditure on goods and services that had huge unexplained increases.

Sh241.4 million was used in purchasing goods and services, which included foreign travel, printing and advertising, training and other operating expenses.

The money, according to the report, was a Sh113.6 million increase from the previous financial year, which was not explained.

"The management of the board did not provide sufficient explanation to justify the huge increases of the expenditures. In the circumstances the propriety of the expenditure of Sh241.4 million could not be confirmed," reads the report in part.

JSC had a total of 61 board meetings during the period under review and only 31 of the meetings had supporting documents.

"In absence of the supporting documents, the total expenditure of Sh49 million paid for board meetings could not be confirmed," adds the report.

At the same time, the auditor raised issues with the under expenditure of Sh78.8 million of the commission's Sh473.2 million budget, which was not explained by JSC.