An internal purge by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has enabled the revenue collection agency to recover more than Sh500 million that its staff had acquired through corruption.

The taxman said it had undertaken 41  lifestyle audits over the 2023/24 financial year, which led to the recovery of Sh549 million. This could be an indication of the substantial bribes that corrupt KRA officials receive to turn a blind eye while equally corrupt Kenyans, both individuals and organisations, evade paying their fair share of taxes.

KRA, in a statement yesterday, said it had also fired 25 employees who were found guilty of corruption over the first quarter of the current financial year (2024/25).

The statement by KRA showed a sharp rise in the number of staff caught up in graft and other misconducts over the first quarter of the current financial year, which the taxman attributed to the enhanced use of technology in weeding out rogue staff and more stringent measures in dealing with them.

“In the 2023/24 financial year, 41 lifestyle audits were conducted, leading to the recovery of Sh549 million,” said KRA, regarding the audits that help identify illicit wealth among staff.

The agency said it had sanctioned 84 of its employees in the first quarter, most of whom were involved in corruption cases, a substantial increase from 37 in the same quarter last financial year. Of these, 25 employees were fired.

“In the first quarter of the 2024/25 financial year, KRA issued a total of 84 verdicts sanctioning staff for various misconducts, compared to just 37 verdicts during the same period in the 2023/24 financial year. This represents a significant increase in disciplinary actions, underscoring the leadership’s firmer stance on corruption within the organisation,” said KRA in a statement signed by Commissioner-General Humphrey Wattanga.

“Among these sanctions, summary dismissals rose sharply to 25 cases in the first quarter of the 2024/25 financial year, from just seven in the same period last year.”

In addition to the audits and sanctions, KRA said it had also implemented a reward scheme for employees who uphold integrity. These efforts have resulted in an improvement in KRA’s Corruption Perception Index , which saw a notable upward shift, rising from 30 per cent in the 2023/24 financial year compared to 38.6 per cent in the 2019/20 financial year.

Corruption within KRA was one of the issues that National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi spoke about in October during KRA’s annual Tax Summit.

Although he admitted that corruption is rife at the tax agency, he appeared to defend the employees, noting that they have not necessarily been adequately taken care of, and as a result, staff morale could be low, which in turn affects tax collections.

He said he planned to proceed with a plan to increase the budgetary allocation for KRA.

“Even if you improve corporate governance without looking at staff welfare, you are going nowhere,” Mbadi said.

In yesterday’s statement, KRA said that among the factors helping the agency fight corruption is its web-based whistleblowing platform – iWhistle.

The platform, KRA said, has been instrumental in recovering Sh4.22 billion in the 2023/2024 financial year.

To incentivise the reporting of tax malpractices, KRA has also established a reward scheme offering informers five per cent of the tax recovered, with a maximum payout of Sh5 million per case.

“Other key anti-corruption measures include profiling tax evaders and the adoption of a whole-of-government approach, which promotes collaboration across public institutions to enhance compliance and curb evasion.”

KRA said it has also introduced Risk-Driven Compliance interventions, ensuring that all actions taken are supported by risk assessments and data analysis.

“Through these strategic measures, including the use of technology and a firm stance on corruption, we are not only enhancing revenue collection but also building a more transparent and efficient tax administration system ,” said Wattanga.