DCI boss Ndegwa Muhoro has dismissed a claim by Adan Harakhe that his IFMIS password was hacked and used to make a fraudulent NYS payment.
Muhoro denied the claim by Harakhe when he appeared before the National Assembly Public Accounts Committee on Tuesday.
Harakhe is the former National Youth Service
deputy director.
Muhoro told the committee probing the Sh791 million scandal that
"IFMIS is a secure and solid system". He said it is not prone to hacking unless users share their confidential passwords.
It had been reported that Harakhe's password was used to make a fraudulent transfer of Sh695 million.
Read:
The DCI and MPs questioned Harakhe's computer literacy suspecting he shared the password. DPP Keriako Tobiko said he was threatened and intimidated with consequences if he proceeded to de-commit the amount from the IFMIS process.
The IFMIS audit trail indicated 18 questionable transactions were submitted by Regina Nyambura. This was according to a progress report submitted on June 19, 2015 to the then Devolution CS Anne Waiguru, by the Banking Fraud Investigation Unit of the CID.
"Both (Regina and Harakhe) have disputed making these entries in the IFMIS system," BFIU boss Joseph Mugwanja said at the time.
Another four supply orders worth Sh133,200,000 were apparently cleared as they went through the laid down e-procurement procedure and were awarded by the then Devolution Principal Secretary Peter Mangiti.
On May 26, Dickson Gisiora wrote on behalf of NYS Director General Nelson Githinji to the CID stating Harakhe's IFMIS account was used to approve payments without is knowledge on 20 and 1 May, 2015. He requested the cybercrime unit to investigate.
On May 27, Harakhe himself wrote to Jerome Ochieng, the IFMIS director at the Treasury, saying his account had been hacked and requesting various orders to be reversed from the system.
Harakhe, a former DC in Western Kenya, was appointed by Waiguru seven months before the theft. Waiguru transferred Harakhe, then an Under Secretary from the Interior ministry, to her docket and created for him the position of NYS Senior Deputy Director General with spending powers.
A special audit report on the multimillion-shilling NYS rip-off showed the fraud started with the appointment.
The report by Auditor General Edward Ouko tabled in Parliament in June affirmed the appointment was influenced by forces which planned to loot the institution.
Also read:
Muhoro also asked why the DPP recommended Harakhe as a witness in the fraud yet DCI investigations found him culpable and recommended charges against him.
"Sometimes it happens; looking at the nature of a case and making a suspect a witness...
I, however, don't know what made the DPP to make Harakhe a witness," he said.