Garissa Member of County Assembly (MCA) and two former county officials are under investigation over the alleged fraudulent payment of Ksh.51,495,253.
The EACC arrested the suspects on February 22, and they were scheduled to be arraigned before the Garissa Law Court on February 23 for plea-taking.
“The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has arrested three senior officials of the County Government of Garissa to be arraigned before Court over fraudulent payments amounting to Kes51,495,516 made to a private company, namely Qorjarey Enterprise and General Supplies Limited, for goods and services not delivered during the financial years 2021/2022 & 2022-2023,” a statement by EACC read.
According to the EACC, the commission commenced investigations into the allegations that the county was involved in Fraud.
The county government of Garissa made irregular payments of Kes51,495,516 to Qorjarey Enterprise & General Supplies Limited between August 2021 and September 2022.
Payments made were for the supply of emergency relief food and water trucking services that were never delivered.
EACC stated that there was neither a budgetary provision nor an approved procurement plan for the food and water trucking service in the 2021/2022 financial year.
Additionally, Qorjarey Enterprise & General Supplies Limited was not among the qualified suppliers during the financial year.
Senior officials in the Garissa County Government are said to have processed and approved the forged documents in favor of the company, bypassing the procurement process.
In addition to the criminal proceedings, EACC will institute a civil suit against the suspects to help recover the unlawful payment.
“The Commission reiterates its commitment to safeguarding public resources and urges public officers to uphold integrity and accountability in the management of public funds,” read the statement.
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Garissa MCA
He served as the Social Development Officer at the County Government of Garissa from 2018 to 2022.
Currently, he is the MCA for Balambala Ward and the sole director and bank signatory of Qorjarey Enterprise & General Supplies Limited.
Garissa MCA is under investigation for the fraud amounting to over KSh.51.4 million, which was processed through the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS).
He is additionally facing multiple forgery charges for falsifying tender and award documents supporting payment.
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Former Director of Accounting Services in the County Government of Garissa.
Between June 28, 2022, and June 30, 2022, he approved the payment of over Ksh.10.8 million to the company.
Allegedly, he approved another amount of over Ksh.12.9 million to the same company within the same period.
Former Senior Principal Economist at the County Government of Garissa.
Former senior principal allegedly raised an invoice for Ksh. 14,528,968, and another invoice of Ksh 8,300,468 in April 2022.
On May 4, 2022, Yusuf raised an invoice for Ksh. 4,804,568.
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