A court has ordered Safaricom to pay its former senior employee a sum of Sh2.3 million as compensation for irregular dismissal over alleged involvement in graft.
Michael Karanja, who served as a senior detective at the telco, was sacked in November 2017 over various allegations such as assisting a third party in irregular M-Pesa tills from which he allegedly received funds contrary to the Safaricom Risk Management Code of Ethics.
Justice Jacob Gakeri said Safaricom had failed to provide sufficient evidence on the reasons for the sacking of the former principal officer for fraud detection and analysis.
“The Claimant never received a specific narrative on the allegations made against him. The results of the alleged investigation are also not on record nor is their evidence that a copy of the report was sent to the Claimant,” said the judge.
The judge found that the suspension letter issued to the employee was “exceedingly general” and that he was not issued with a notice to show cause.
Safaricom claimed that Karanja was involved in various conflicts of interest dealings that involved Safaricom MPESA agents.
The company had also claimed that Karanja was involved in various conflict of interest dealings involving Safaricom M-Pesa agents.
The compensation amount comprises Sh1.7 million (five months’ gross salary), Sh347,000 (one month’s salary in lieu of notice), and salary for 27 days in June 2017.
The evidence cited by Karanja was that he was not taken through any disciplinary hearing before dismissal.
Safaricom did not participate in the case, hence the suit was undefended.
