Wife of NYS suspect barred from traveling to China

Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs Cabinet Secretary, Prof Margaret Kobia.

The wife of a businessman being investigated in connection with a fraud case at the National Youth Service has been barred from flying to China on a business trip.

Reports indicated that the woman was on Tuesday night informed that her husband – who is a leading supplier at the NYS – was under investigation and that there were instructions that those on the radar of detectives should not be allowed to leave the country.

Sources said the names of the suspects and their immediate family members had been flagged and they would not be allowed to travel out of the country without explanation or authorisation from a multi-agency team probing the scandal.

In another development, all officers at the NYS procurement, finance and accounting departments who are under investigations have been sent on compulsory leave.

42 officials

Starting today, 42 officials and businessmen who are the focus of the investigations will be asked by investigators to respond to the claims against them.

Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs Cabinet Secretary Margaret Kobia yesterday directed that the NYS staff go home, citing ongoing investigations and the stepping aside of Principal Secretary Lilian Mbogo-Omollo and Director General Richard Ndubai.

“I hereby direct that all officers at NYS in procurement, finance and accounting who are under investigation proceed on compulsory leave effective immediately to allow investigators to complete their work,” she said in a statement.

Apart from barring the suspects from leaving the country, the investigating team has also carried out a lifestyle audit on those it has flagged as persons of interest.

Top managers and suppliers are expected to appear again before the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) today to defend themselves before their files are sent to the State prosecutor for action.

DCI boss George Kinoti said yesterday 42 officials had been summoned to explain what they know about the matter.

“We don’t want to frame anyone. We want to ensure once we send the files to the DPP, we are on the same page with the accused so that they don’t come to complain they were framed. We have summoned them to explain their cases that we have so far developed.”

He noted police had asked those summoned to come with documents or their side of the story that may exonerate them from the accusations.

The investigators have established that some procedures were not followed before payments were made to the suppliers and some goods may have been paid for more than twice.

The detectives want to establish if the goods paid for were indeed supplied.

Investigators also want to establish if there are any cases of collusion between suppliers and public officers that may have led to theft of money in fictitious claims involving billions of shillings.

Sources in the team investigating the issue said they wanted to give some of the accused a chance to explain the source of their wealth.

Extremely rich

“Some of them are extremely rich and live a lifestyle you cannot imagine. They will get the chance to explain all that,” said one source.

Among those expected at the DCI offices are Ms Omollo, Mr Ndubai, accountants, supplies management staff, procurement officers and those from the Integrated Financial Management Information System.

Also wanted by the police are suppliers and directors of companies that were involved in business with NYS.

Omollo, Ndubai and staff from the finance and procurement departments have been questioned more than once by the team.

Kinoti said the investigators were not looking into the value of the money lost.

“Even if it’s a shilling or Sh8 billion you quote, that is money. We are not going to exaggerate. It is not an issue if some of them want to run away. They will be caught.”