NAIROBI: The corridors of Kenya’s courts of law are jammed with people accused of stealing from their employers.
In most cases, these people are accused of diverting millions of shillings, and sometimes billions, into their personal accounts.
Those who do not fancy the repugnant air of the courtroom can only speculate on the physical attributes of these suspects.
However, according to a report released on Friday by audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), an internal fraudster does not fit your typical stereotype of a criminal.
The fraudster is not someone who is stuck in an abyss of want and drowning in an ocean of ignorance. He is not the kind that you will easily single out for the scars on his face or violent manners.
Far from it. An internal fraudster is a young, handsome male employee aged between 21 and 30. He is well groomed. In fact, his is more of social trauma than an economic want. He is not after survival, he only wants a better-than-average life.
He has a white-collar job. So he probably has either an office or a desk. This is because the internal fraudster is more likely to be a junior manager who has already put in between three and five years of service, according to the PwC survey.
More often than not, he attended some of the finest colleges and universities in the world and graduated with straight As.
Worryingly, this profile of a typical Kenyan internal fraudster is a shift from last year’s, when the survey found the typical fraudster was a male aged between 31 and 40.
The global internal fraudster, however, remains the same — a male aged between 31 and 40 with a university degree and has put in about three to five years of service.
PwC Forensics Leader in Eastern Africa Muniu Thoithi said a number of factors are pushing young men into fraud, including opportunity, peer pressure and rationalisation.
While the findings paint a pessimistic picture of the country’s future, some people might take solace in the idea that some of these criminal incidences are the results of peer pressure and youthful experiment, which will die out with time.
But opponents might reason that given these youths have been exposed to cases of instant gratification, where people become overnight billionaires without breaking a sweat, there is nothing to make this generation transform with time.
Already, the country has been embroiled in scandal after scandal. Billions of shillings have been pilfered and the culprits are people these youths are supposed to look up to.
Moreover, these young people are under pressure to keep up with the Joneses. They would like to drive posh cars, live in fancy homes and dine in posh restaurants.
These young people want to fit into a society where wanton indulgence is fast becoming the norm.
In January, research was unveiled that showed most young people have no qualms breaking the law if that is what it takes for them to achieve their life-long desires.
The report by the East African Institute (EAI) indicated they would evade tax and engage in corruption as long as they are not prosecuted.
About 30 per cent of the youth were of the opinion that corruption is profitable, with 35 per cent ready to give or receive a bribe. Less than half of those polled, 40 per cent, strongly believed it was important to pay taxes.
PwC’s report did not delve into why the gender disparity in fraud. The authors were, however, cautious of stereotyping. Mr Thoithi said although the survey showed men were more likely to engage in fraud than women, the public should not hastily make conclusions.
“There are cases where it is females that are committing crime, and not males,” he said.
The firm’s eighth biennial Global Economic Crime Survey and fourth biennial Kenya report also revealed an increase in the level of economic crime from the last survey in 2014. About 61 per cent of respondents in 2015 compared to 52 per cent in 2014 said they had experienced cases of economic crimes in the last 24 months.