Feeding on air: NYS probe shows suppliers' false claims of Sh6.2b

President William Ruto during the National Youth Service recruits passing out parade at NYS paramilitary Academy, Gillgil, Nakuru County, on December 8, 2023. [File, Standard] Fresh shocking revelations have emerged of an intricate scheme intended to siphon billions of taxpayers' money in another National Youth Service scandal. Investigators claim in the latest NYS scandal, Kenyans almost paid over Sh6.2 billion for food the youth service never ate, uniforms it never wore, boots that never touched the ground, and diesel that never burned. And the suspects may not go to full trial as the back and forth between the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions threatens to derail the case. Whereas the EACC claims it has watertight evidence to prosecute the DPP, Renson Ingonga, has twice, in separate letters, dismissed the scheme, stating there is no evidence to recommend criminal charges against the suspects, led by businessman Ben Gethi Wangui. Gethi first hit the headlines in 2015, when the infamous Sh791 million scandal, NYS Season One, erupted after investigators uncovered the loss of the millions through irregular payments to a network of companies for supplies allegedly delivered to the youth agency. This and a second wave of the Sh468 million scandal, NYS Two, shocked Kenyans, prompting arrests, parliamentary probes, and the suspension of senior government officials, including former Devolution PS Peter Mangiti and Youth Affairs PS Lilian Omolo. And now, investigators allege that, as Kenyans focused on earlier scandals, suppliers and insiders were quietly preparing a far more audacious fraud, one that relied not on cash changing hands immediately, but on carefully manipulated paperwork. The details are contained in the latest court filings at the Milimani Anti- Corruption High Court. Over three years, a network of private suppliers and senior officials at the National Youth Service (NYS) allegedly built one of the most elaborate paper-based frauds in the country's history, an attempt to extract Sh6.2 billion from public coffers for goods that "never existed". Between 2013 and 2016, the NYS accounting system was flooded with more than 1,500 invoices, delivery notes, inspection forms and 277 Local Purchase Orders for massive quantities of food, cooking fat, sugar, blankets, uniforms, milk powder, vehicle fuel and equipment demanding billions of shillings in payment. On paper, NYS stores were overflowing and the state agency recruits were fully kitted. But in reality, investigators say, warehouses, including the agency's headquarters in Nairobi, were empty, and records were forged to support fictitious payments. EACC says Gethi, through six companies, lodged claims totalling Sh3.4 billion for 'supplying air'. The companies linked to Gethi are Schoolwork Enterprises, Newtool Mart Trading, Ratego Technologies, Realtool Trading, Comptool Trading, and Horizon Limited. Other suppliers linked to the scandal, including Elizabeth Wangeci Ngugi (Liz Link General Suppliers) and Susan Nyambura Mburu (Link General and Jimchar Enterprises Limited), collectively added billions more to the claims, pushing it to over Sh6.2 billion. Among the claims detailed in the court papers, Newtool Mart Trading supplied 128,200 ankle-high boots at Sh2,877 a piece, totalling Sh368.9 million between January 2014 and September 2015. Yet investigations found no delivery records, no inspection reports and no evidence that even a single pair reached NYS stores. Food supplies formed the next pillar of the said fraud. Invoices show claims for nearly two million tins of baked beans, hundreds of thousands of litres of cooking oil, thousands of bags of sugar and large quantities of tinned pineapples. When President William Ruto presided over the National Youth Service pass out parade at NYS paramilitary Academy, Gillgil Nakuru County on December 08, 2023. [PCS] Highview Trading sought payment of Sh1.36 billion for 316,600 litres of cooking oil supplied from March to October 2015, enough to run institutional kitchens across the country for months. Yet EACC investigators say there was no trace of these items ever being received, stocked, cooked or distributed. Again, Realtool Trading claimed Sh271 million for 1,950,000 tins of baked beans, while Ratego Technologies submitted claims for 850,000 tinned pineapples worth Sh142.8 million, 850 rakes for Sh150.45 million, and 7,500 bags of white sugar totalling Sh196.65 million. Additional claims were lodged for jerseys, T-shirts, helmets and army biscuits running into hundreds of millions of shillings. Comptool Trading made claims for 222,000 helmets and 59,853 jerseys totalling Sh345.9 million, Schoolwork Enterprises for 950,000 army biscuits and 455,060 round-neck T-shirts amounting to Sh564.4 million. Fuel claims pushed the alleged scheme deeper into the billions. Horizon Limited sought Sh714.5 million for diesel supplies purportedly delivered to NYS. Yet investigators found no tanker logs, no fuel issue records and no consumption reports. According to the EACC, not a single litre was delivered. Further claims were attributed to companies associated with other Gethi's associates, including Tison Limited, through its directors, namely David Owuor and Michael Tyson, which claimed Sh949.6 million for 21,000 bags of milk powder. Jimchar Enterprises, associated with businessman Charles Karanja, sought Sh532.7 million for blankets, and Lizlink General Suppliers, linked to Elizabeth Wangeci Ngugi, claimed Sh217.8 million for 3,000 blankets. Link General Suppliers, associated with Businesswoman Susan Nyambura Mburu, sought Sh351.5 million for a million tins of corned beef. Inspection forms accompanying the invoices indicated the goods had been checked and approved. But investigators say these reports were falsified, stock control cards were manipulated and goods-received notes were generated to match deliveries that never occurred. According to the EACC, the cumulative value of the disputed payment claims across all the companies amounts to Sh6,167,797,655. Investigations revealed that the LPOs, goods received notes, stock control cards, and inspection forms were all falsified. The EACC claims the scheme could not have succeeded without insiders. At least nine NYS officials are accused of colluding with the suppliers. "The purported supply of goods was based on LPOs allegedly issued by NYS, but investigations show that 248 LPOs and S13 forms attached to the payment vouchers were not printed by the Government Printer nor issued to NYS," EACC Lawyer Irene Cherono informed the court. Investigators allege that the then Director of Finance, Samwel Mudanyi Wachenje, signed 245 out of 277 LPOs, despite knowing they were fictitious. The accused officials include: Wachenje, Bernard Kipkoech Yatich, Bernard Nzioka Kioko, Julius Nyadimo Airo, John Nganga Gicharu, Titus Trouble Libondo, Isaac Wafula Kundu, Jane Wangechi Gichuki, and Chemoss Kororia Ndiema. According to court documents, the alleged fraud unravelled after the Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku raised the alarm over ballooning pending bills at NYS and formally requested the EACC to verify their legitimacy. The ministry flagged multiple payment claims submitted to NYS by suppliers and sought authentication of the demands. What followed was a forensic audit that exposed empty stores, missing delivery trails and counterfeit procurement paperwork supporting claims worth billions. When investigations by EACC concluded, documents filed in court show that twice the commission chief executive wrote to DPP seeking review of the investigating file and prosecution of the suspects over allegations of irregular payment claims amounting to over Sh6 billion through pending bills. However, a response in a letter dated June 5, 2024, filed in court, shows the DPP informed the EACC that investigations under Inquiry File No. 171/2019 could not be sustained and ordered the file be closed. "Upon further perusal of the resubmitted file and consideration of the evidence contained therein, we note that the evidence is not sufficient to support the recommended charges against the suspects," the DPP responded to the EACC letter seeking prosecution of the suppliers and NYS officials. "It is therefore apparent on the face of the record that the numerous discrepancies in the evidence will hinder the Prosecution from discharging its mandate of proving the proposed charges against the suspects to the required standard in law. "Accordingly, the DPP has directed that the EACC Inquiry File No. 171/2019 be closed," the letter reads, adding that key witnesses were facing prosecution alongside two former Devolution PSs, Peter Mangiti and Lilian Omollo. A subsequent letter dated May 7, 2025, reaffirmed the decision, with the DPP stating there was no evidence to warrant a review of the earlier directions closing the case prosecution of the NYS suspects of Sh 6 billion fraud. However, following the DPP's failure to prosecute them even after overwhelming evidence, the suppliers pushed for the payments late last year and sought to have the current payment vouchers held by EACC be released to them to enable them to claim their dues. Only at the tail end of the scheme did the brakes come on. On December 8, last year, Justice Lucy Njuguna stepped in and froze the disputed payments until the case by EACC seeking to have payments totalling Sh6.2 billion declared fraudulent and illegal is heard. Yesterday, Justice Benjamin Musyoki again extended the orders restraining the suppliers from claiming the money and barring NYS officials from effecting any payment linked to the 277 vouchers until February 2, 2026. "Pending hearing of the case, the existing orders restraining the defendants from claiming payment of Sh6,167,797,655 from NYS are extended to February 2," the judge ordered.

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