Mungatana case
The hearing of case in which Tana River Senator Danson Buya Mungatana and 17 others are accused of defrauding the County Government of Kilifi of Sh51 million got underway in a Malindi court.
A former Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) liaison officer with the County Government, Gabriel Mkare, narrated how six companies associated with the law maker syphoned the money from the devolved unit accounts at the Central Bank of Kenya by fraudulent means.
Mungatana, a former Member of Parliament for Garsen constituency, is charged alongside 17 county government officials and directors of various companies of making and receiving fraudulent payments for goods and services not supplied and rendered to the County Government of Kilifi.
Mungatana is charged privately and in his capacity as a director of Zohali Sevices Limited and Jahazi Investment Company, which are to have received the fraudulent payments.
Mukare told Malindi Chief Magistrate Elizabeth Usui that the fraud was discovered after an invoice raised to pay temporary employees of the devolved government who had gone on strike demanding their salaries was rejected by the IFMIS which indicated that there was no money in the vote head.
Mkare, who was led in his examination in chief by Senior Prosecuting Counsel Vivien Kambaga, said the IFMIS rejection raised suspicion that led to the discovery of transactions that had not followed due process.
He said the companies that had been paid were not known to the county government as they did not go through the identification, validation, procurement and approval processes, but it was too late as some of the payees had already withdrawn the monies wired to their accounts.
He took the court through a step-by-step payment system, which involved both manual and electronic systems, and how the approval process of the fraudulent transactions had numerous flaws as they did not follow the normal procedure. According to him, Daima One Enterprises received a full payment of Sh7,230,940, but its second transaction of Sh4,100,200 was recalled by the Central Bank of Kenya before it was withdrawn.
He said Leadership Edge Associates received Sh7,840,910 while Kilingi Investments Company received Sh6,700,952 but its transaction of Sh3,109,132 was detected at the internet banking platform and the payment stopped.
Mkare said Zohali Services Limited received Sh5,390,520 from the county government’s CBK account but withdrew only Sh125,125, leaving a balance of 7,715,000, which was reversed to the county government’s account. Makegra Suppliers Limited, which had two transactions worth Sh3,243,958 and Sh7,119,220 managed to withdraw Sh3,063,057.20 and Sh6,785,951.20 respectively, leaving a total balance of a paltry Sh623,787.60, he said.
He said Jahazi Investments Company Limited was paid Sh6,012,950 and withdrew everything. Mungatana was dramatically arrested by Ethics and Anti-Corruption (EACC) officers alongside six other people, among them four Kilifi County Government officials and two businesspeople on Thursday April 11, 2019, while the other 11 were arrested later.
The case has been dragging on for the last five years as the prosecution looked for witnesses, which it now says it has obtained. The hearing of the case started Monday and is expected to continue uninterrupted till all the witnesses give evidence.