Lack of records and disregard for the law have opened up the Kiambu county executive to fraud and tax evasion, a government report shows.
In its Corruption Risk Assessment Report, the Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission says the departments of human resources, finance, audit, supply, communications and record management have loopholes that can easily be exploited by the corrupt.
The assessment was conducted by the EACC officers between January 5, and 12, 2018. EACC has said that it came across cases where there were no records of how the assembly manages its cash book. For instance, the bank account for MCAs’ car loan scheme at Family Bank did not have cash books and the assembly was not preparing bank reconciliation statements.
“Failure to comply with the Public Financial Management regulations is a weakness that may open loopholes for fraud, theft and misuse of county assembly resources leading to loss of financial resources,” the commission said.
Some imprests were also not accounted for. The EACC cited a case of Sh390,000 issued to to an officer on November 16, 2017, and due for surrender on November 30, the same year. But it was not accounted for at th but had not been accounted for at the time of assessment.
Staff were paid per diem without authorisation by the accounting officer. The assembly paid Sh380,145 to staff attending an induction a workshop for the business committee without authorisation by the accounting officer. Another Sh135,200 per diem was paid to staff accompanying the speaker to Kirinyaga county. There were no supporting transport documents, invitation letter or approval request.
The commission said the assembly paid contractors without deducting the six per cent withholding Value Added Tax.
It said the assembly speaker was provided non-cash benefits such as a cook, gardener and body guard. Some staff had issues with mortgages with low three per cent interest rates.