Former Homa Bay employee ordered to refund Sh708,664 double salary

 

Ogweno received the additional payments between February 2015 and May 2018 after receiving salaries she was not entitled to from the county government. [Courtesy, Meta]

A former Homa Bay County employee has been ordered to refund Sh708,664 she received in irregular salary payments over more than three years.

Justice Benjamin Musyoki of the Milimani Anti- Corruption High Court ordered Evelyne Adhiambo Ogweno and a former county payroll official to refund the money to the government after the EACC proved that she received Sh708,664 in double salary payments she was neither entitled to nor had earned.

In his judgment, Justice Musyoki found that Ogweno received the additional payments between February 2015 and May 2018 after receiving salaries she was not entitled to from the county government.

"A declaration is hereby issued that the additional salary payments amounting to Sh 708,664.00 received by the 1st defendant (Ogweno) from the County Government of Homa Bay between February 2015 and May 2018 were irregular and ought to be restituted.  

The judge said the evidence established that the former employee received Sh708,664 in excess payments, which remained recoverable regardless of whether they were obtained deliberately or through an error.

“What matters is that she received payments from the government which she was neither entitled to nor had earned,” Justice Musyoki said.

“Whether the same were salaries or other emoluments is not material. They remain irregular and recoverable.”

The court further found that Ogweno had acknowledged receiving the excess money after she sent an email undertaking to repay it in instalments of Sh10,000 per month.

The repayment promise, however, was never honoured, according to evidence presented in court.

The decision came after the EACC had sued Ogweno together with three former county payroll officials seeking recovery of the money.

The case arose from investigations into alleged multiple salary payments to employees and former employees of Homa Bay County Government.

EACC told the court that its investigations established that Ogweno received double salaries through her bank account during the period in question.

However, the judge dismissed the claim against two of the former payroll officials, finding that the Commission had not sufficiently proved that they authorised, facilitated or negligently caused the irregular payments.

The judge said the evidence did not establish that county official Solomon Ochogo directed or approved the disputed payments.

The judge noted that Homa Bay County operated two payroll systems, a manual system and the Integrated Payroll and Personal Data (IPPD) system, which made it difficult to detect duplicate payments.

According to the judge, the manual payroll system enabled the irregular payments.

The judge held Ogweno liable for the Sh708,664 illegal earnings.