Mailu launches probe into NYS-type scam at national laboratory

Health secretary Cleopa Mailu has ordered investigations into alleged theft in his ministry through a scheme that mirrors the infamous National Youth Service (NYS) scam.

The minister acted after documents were presented to him showing that a senior ministry official manipulated the integrated financial management information system (IFMIS) and authorised payment of Sh30 million for the purchase of non-existent laboratory chemicals and reagents.

Dr Mailu said he received the documents mid this year and handed them over to the ministry’s internal audit department for verification as the investigations continue.

“I have asked for an internal audit of the misappropriated funds and I should be having the report in a month’s time,” the minister said last Friday. “Action will be taken if any illegalities are found and we shall call a Press briefing on the same because it is public money.”

The documents indicate that signatures of the National Quality Control Laboratory (NQCL) directors were forged and used to approve payment of the money out of the ministry accounts.

The documents show that the senior ministry official behind the scam used junior officers to execute the theft and thereafter ordered destruction of the document trail.

“The documentation used underwent the normal IFMIS process until approval by the former Chief Finance Officer (CFO),” reads a note from the whistleblower, who confessed to playing part in the scam.

“It is at this stage that I realised the documentation had been intercepted by NQCL and I was asked to explain as I have done.”

A senior officer at the Government Chemist has also been dragged into the scandal. The alleged scandal has its roots in the May 19 interception of forged payment vouchers amounting to Sh18,249,000 for the supply of chemicals and reagents “ordered” by the laboratory.

NQCL director Hezekiah Chepkwony, in a letter to the principal secretary, Dr Nicholas Muraguri, dated May 23, said that the matter came to the Laboratory’s attention after the CFO sought confirmation for the “orders”.

“The order had not originated from NQCL neither had we received any chemicals nor reagent supplies. The said documentation had forged signatures of the NQCL’s Authority to Incur Expenditure (AIE) holder,” said Dr Chepkwony.

Usually, heads of departments in the ministry are the AIE holders and approvers of any procurement. Dr Muraguri is yet to respond to the matter that is now with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).