• Executive on the spot for unexplained cash withdrawals amounting to Sh209.3 million.
• Committee not satisfied with the executive's submissions
Image: MAUREEN KINYANJUI
The Nairobi county assembly Public Accounts Committee is investigating Sh20 billion unaccounted for by City Hall for the 2017-2018 financial year.
The auditor general highlighted the figure in his 2017-18 report.
Yesterday, PAC chairman Wilfred Odalo led his team in grilling Finance executive Charles Kerich and chief finance officer Halkano Waqo over Sh209.3 million. They will undertake a step-by-step probe until they cover the entire Sh20 billion.
With regard to the Finance department, the audit report noted that the county withdrew the amount from businesses and its Equity Bank account for payments that were not specified.
Contrary to the Public Finance and Management regulations, the payments were not supported by vouchers or any documents.
It was further highlighted that the executive withdrew Sh3 million in July last year from the Nairobi City County Trust account.
Minority Whip Peter Imwatok questioned why the executive did not submit supporting documents.
“The committee has not received adequate evidence to support the withdrawals. My intuition tells me that this money was misappropriated," he said.
Chief finance officer Halkano Waqo said that during the period the county operated an imprest system. He said the Sh3 million was withdrawn from KCB trust account to pay for imprests.
"The withdrawals and payments were done by the county’s payment cashier who also accounted for funds given before being reimbursed," he said.
Waqo also stated that there were delays from the county treasury in providing the documents and payment vouchers, which were to be used as evidence for the expenditure.
"The delay came about as a result of the suspension of treasury officers responsible for coordinating the issuance of requested documents. Some of the required documents had also been forwarded for scrutiny to investigative agencies," he told the MCAs.
Nominated MCA Silvia Museiya said the committee was not satisfied with the department's submissions, noting that they only captured a portion of the figure in question.
The chief officer was taken to task to provide evidence for the withdrawals and payments totalling Sh206 million.
Kilimani MCA Moses Ogeto further requested that Kerich furnish the committee with a more detailed imprest register outlining the payments.
Defending the county, however, Patrick Wanjohi, an accountant at the Finance Department, said the supporting evidence was available but could not be produced because it was too voluminous.
He said there were challenges in photocopying the document.
The inquiry took an interesting turn when an officer from the Auditor General's Office discovered that the evidence produced by the executive was not what was requested.
The officers had requested for bank statements from the county’s supreme business and current accounts at Equity Bank but were given amounts from the KCB account.
“Interestingly, we even discovered more discrepancies bringing rise to the total amount in unaccounted-for withdrawals to Sh459.1 million,” an officer from the Auditor General’s office said.
The finance officials are scheduled to face the committee again on Wednesday.
(Edited by F'Orieny)