EACC wins bid to recover Sh67 million fraudulently paid as allowances to Treasury official
Justice Musyoki ordered Kiptis to refund Sh67,664,975, with Sh2,443,667.92 forfeited from her Equity Bank account and Sh6,320,419.80 from her KCB Bank account
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has secured a landmark judgment to recover Sh67 million fraudulently paid as unauthorised allowances to Faith Jematia Kiptis, an officer at the National Treasury and Planning.
In a judgment delivered yesterday by Justice Benjamin Musyoki of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Division of the High Court in Nairobi, Kiptis was found to have illegally and irregularly received public funds disguised as taskforce, extraneous, entertainment, facilitation, and other unspecified allowances.
In his ruling, Justice Musyoki ordered Kiptis to refund Sh67,664,975, with Sh2,443,667.92 forfeited from her Equity Bank account and Sh6,320,419.80 from her KCB Bank account.
The court also ordered that she pay the interest at court rates until full recovery and costs of the suit to be borne in favor of EACC.
The judgment follows investigations by the anti-graft commission, which were initiated upon receipt of reports alleging embezzlement of public funds by the treasury officer. Upon conclusion of the investigations, EACC filed a plaint in January 2023.
During its investigation, the anti-corruption commission established that between January 2020 and June 2022, Kiptis received allowances contrary to government policy.
These included multiple and overlapping committee and taskforce payments; payments made without the requisite approval from the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC); allowances not applicable to her job group; and payments not provided for in government procedure manuals and circulars.
The investigations also uncovered the disbursement of undefined and duplicated allowances that were neither recognized nor specified in any formal guidelines.
During the trial, EACC presented evidence demonstrating that the allowances were unauthorized and in direct violation of SRC circulars, particularly the binding advisory dated 16th December 2015, and a subsequent circular issued on 22nd April 2021, both of which expressly rejected the payment of such allowances.
The court reaffirmed that SRC’s advice on public officers’ remuneration is binding under Article 230 of the Constitution and held that Kiptis knowingly participated in the fraudulent scheme, unjustly enriching herself at the expense of the public.
The court further noted that the National Treasury ought to have awaited the advice of the SRC before effecting any such payments.
The judgment underscores the Commission’s mandate to recover assets acquired through corruption and to uphold the integrity of public financial management and the protection of public property in Kenya.
The judgment is one of the several successful recoveries by EACC involving funds embezzled from the National Treasury between February 2020 and June 2022.
The embezzled amounts had been disguised as extraneous, facilitation, taskforce/committee, and other undefined allowances.
To date, EACC has recovered a total of Sh174,092,175 in unlawfully and irregularly paid allowances to officials of the National Treasury, through both Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms and court processes.
