The anti-corruption watchdog has said the amount of money siphoned out of State coffers through the National Youth Service (NYS) scam may exceed Sh2 billion as new leads emerge.
The figure is almost three-times the much publicised Sh791 million theft that has landed eight suspects in courts.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) on Thursday told Parliament that it has so far established that Sh1.8 billion was lost in the NYS scam after its investigations uncovered 13 other cases.
“As at now we have nothing less than Sh1.8 billion as the amount siphoned through NYS and the figure is growing by the day. It is not static,” Halakhe Waqo, the EACC chief executive told the Public Accounts Committee on Thursday when he appeared to answer queries on the scandal.
A special audit by Auditor-General Edward Ouko put the figure of taxpayers’ money lost in the scam at Sh1.9 and identified businesswoman Josephine Kabura as the principal beneficiary of the theft.
Mr Ouko’s special audit report, tabled in Parliament in June, showed Ms Kabura received Sh1.3 billion on account of 11 companies that transacted business with the NYS.
On Thursday Mr Waqo said most of the cases currently under investigation had “mutated to even bigger proportions.”
Based on new allegations touching on the NYS, the EACC has launched investigations into five companies said to have received Sh29.9 million from the Ministry of Devolution and Planning as payment for goods allegedly supplied to the NYS.
The five include Maanti Logistics, Carrotess Enterprise, Jupecar Garments, Sallijow Enterprises, Lantex Enterprise and Pejows Agencies.
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