KNH suspends 11 employees over Sh47m cybercrime theft, recovers Sh16m

Kenyatta National Hospital. 

Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group

The Kenyatta National Referral Hospital (KNH) lost Sh47 million through cybercrime in the financial year that ended June 2024, triggering an internal investigation that led to the suspension of 11 employees.

The hospital says it has since recovered Sh16 million of the stolen amount, even as they reported the matter to the Public Service Commission (PSC) and investigating agencies.

“The suspects involved in the cybercrime incident have been apprehended and the case is currently before the courts. We are cooperating fully with the relevant investigative agencies to ensure the matter is resolved conclusively and that justice is served,” KNH Chief Executive Officer Evanson Kamuri said in response to our queries.

He added that KNH has taken steps to enhance the security of its systems to avoid such future losses.

The disclosures come on the back of Auditor General Nancy Gathungu revealing last year that her office, was undertaking a forensic audit on the hospital’s payment system.

The audit was after a preliminary review of the hospital’s payment system, pointed to possible fraudulent activities and loss of funds, according to Ms Gathungu’s report on KNH financial dealings. The audit findings are yet to be made public.

KNH's response to this publication was in reaction to the PSC disclosures that claimed that the hospital lost Sh517.9 million in the review period. The hospital however clarified to this publication that it lost Sh47 million and not Sh517.9 million. KNH management attributed the figure cited by PSC to erroneous entries in a report.

Dr Kamuri said the hospital has since written to the PSC to correct the figure contained in its report, on the status of compliance of government entities with the values and principles of the Constitution.

“The Sh47 million in question was mistakenly apportioned to each of the 11 individuals under investigation, resulting in the erroneous figure of Sh517.9 million,” he said.

The PSC report published mid-January had shown the amount of money lost through corrupt dealing across public entities shot to Sh643.59 million in the year ended June 2024 from Sh605.1 million in the preceding year.

The figure could fall if PSC agrees to the KNH revision.

The PSC evaluation scope usually excludes public officers serving under other service commissions such as the National Police Service Commission, Teachers Service Commission, Judicial Service Commission, Parliamentary Service Commission, and the County Public Services.

The current size of the Kenyan Public Service is estimated to be about 750,000 officers and therefore the PSC says its report comprises only a third of the public service— a possibility that the Sh643.59 million loss is just a sneak peek.

The money lost through corrupt deals in the firms under the PSC report could be higher, given that most (94.5 percent) of the evaluated institutions did not submit data on reported cases of corruption while others did so without stating the amount lost.

For instance, PSC states that the Kenya Revenue Authority accounted for 142 of the 337 public officers found with corruption cases.

However, KRA did not disclose the amount of money lost.

The nature of corrupt dealings leading to the loss of millions of shillings from public entities included abuse of office, conspiracies, bid rigging, and improper benefits, coming in the year when 4,091 disciplinary cases were reported.

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