Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku with DCI boss Mohamed Amin and other officials during the handover of the report on July 8, 2026/HANDOUTThe Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has launched investigations into suspected payroll fraud involving Sh6.2 billion after the Ministry of Public Service handed over a forensic audit report exposing widespread irregularities in government payroll systems.
Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku formally presented the audit report to DCI Director Mohamed Amin Wednesday, July 8, setting the stage for a criminal investigation into what officials described as systemic manipulation of payroll records across government institutions.
The probe follows a Cabinet directive issued by President William Ruto ordering the DCI to investigate suspected payroll fraud after an audit uncovered irregularities amounting to Sh6.2 billion.
The findings emerged from a sample audit of 12 out of the government's 53 State departments, where investigators detected unauthorised alterations to payroll records and suspected manipulation of the payroll system.
The review, which examined audit and parliamentary reports and involved interviews with key government agencies, revealed what the government described as deep-rooted weaknesses in payroll management.
Receiving the report, Amin said the DCI would conduct a comprehensive investigation to establish the extent of the fraud and identify those responsible.
"We have commenced investigations into the suspected payroll fraud, including the reported irregularities amounting to Sh6.2 billion identified in the initial audit," Amin said.
He said investigators will verify personal numbers used in payroll processing and examine all unauthorised changes made to employee records.
"Our teams will verify the personal numbers used in the payroll processing. We shall further examine all unauthorised alterations to records, all irregular payments, weak controls and dismantle the criminal network involved in the manipulation of our government's payroll systems," he said.
Amin pledged that the investigations would be completed as quickly as possible and vowed to recover all public funds lost through fraudulent payments.
"This investigation will be undertaken within the shortest time possible, and we are committed to recovering every public fund lost through these malpractices," he said.
He said the DCI would work closely with other government institutions, including the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA), the Financial Reporting Centre (FRC) and other security agencies to trace the movement of the money and identify beneficiaries.
"We will work collaboratively with other government partners to ensure all the stolen funds are returned to the government and that the investigations are conducted professionally," Amin said.
The DCI boss warned that no individual would be spared if found culpable.
"I wish to assure the people of Kenya that anybody found culpable, regardless of position or status, will be brought to book because this is a serious matter of national concern," he said.
Amin noted that investigators had only just received the audit report and would analyse the documents before pursuing bank records, payroll statements and transaction trails to establish how the funds were disbursed.
"We are yet to interact with the documents. We shall go through them. This will require collaboration with other government ministries, obtaining information from banks, payroll statements and determining the accounts through which the money was transmitted," he said.
The government has intensified efforts to seal loopholes in public payroll systems as part of broader reforms aimed at eliminating ghost workers, curbing corruption and safeguarding public resources.
The DCI said it would provide periodic updates as investigations progress.
The report, jointly by the Auditor General and the State Department of Public Service and Human Capital also uncovered irregularities in the records of public servants.
To establish the viability of the Government Payroll System, the Department commissioned an independent special audit of HRIS-K covering the Financial Year 2024/2025. The audit assessed payroll integrity, system integration, compliance, access controls, cybersecurity safeguards, and infrastructure readiness.
Human Resource Information System Kenya (HRIS-K) was found to be inadequately integrated with key systems, with approximately over 300 State Corporations yet to migrate and onboard onto the system. The report exposes payroll data inconsistencies, which include missing surnames, invalid KRA PINs, multiple IDs, and shared bank accounts which were identified.
About 5,778 employees were found recorded as posted before hire; three employees hired in 2023 have future birth years (2046–2049).
“Irregular earnings totalling Sh5.898 billion were identified, including 15,331 cases of special salary (Sh4.336B), arrears below six months (Sh712.6 million), and arrears beyond six months (Sh555.1 million),” the report states.
About 720 editors were found to have altered 4,732,082 payroll records without timestamps, while 77 employees were found to have edited their own records. The system was found by the audit to lack Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), rate limiting, database logging, and monitoring and has not undergone penetration testing for over one year.
The Public Service PS Jane Imbunya said findings of the HRIS-K payroll audit underscore systemic weaknesses in integration, governance, and controls that expose the government payroll to significant fiscal, operational, and cybersecurity risks.
“However, the decisive actions already undertaken—particularly the deployment of a multi-agency technical team and initiation of a governance reset—demonstrate the government's commitment to reform.”
The Department of Public Service said the success of payroll transformation will depend on firm enforcement of compliance, sustained financing, and strong inter-agency coordination.
Imbunya said the ongoing forensic review and planned system enhancements present a critical opportunity to restore integrity, enhance transparency, and achieve sustainable wage bill management.
In parallel with the forensic process, the government says, with technical support from the National Intelligence Service (NIS), it is undertaking a comprehensive governance reset and system strengthening programme targeting key control weaknesses.
“We will continue to strengthen integration and encourage full compliance with HRIS-K, while enhancing accountability across all institutions. We are also committed to progressively enhancing system integrity through improved security measures, continuous data validation, and appropriate resolution of payroll anomalies,” she added.
The department, however, said it faces a challenge of a lack of consideration of the Sh138 million awarded by Treasury for the optimisation of the HRIS-Ke infrastructure during the parliamentary review of the supplementary of 2026, saying the estimates may slow down the momentum in the payroll reform initiative.
“Non-compliance by the players in the payroll reform journey impedes/slows down the payroll reform agenda,” Imbunya added.
The Cabinet approved sweeping reforms to dismantle deeply what it called entrenched and decades-long payroll fraud in government, restore integrity to the public wage bill and safeguard taxpayers’ money through a whole-of-government payroll clean-up.
