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DCI hands over 10 NYS scam files in Phase I of probe to DPP

Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji says he is leading a team of experienced prosecutors in undertaking final review of the files/FILE

NAIROBI, Kenya, May 27- The Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti has submitted 10 files of the multi-billion National Youth Service scandal to Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji says he is leading a team of experienced prosecutors in undertaking a final review of the files.

He says the 10 files consist just the first phase of the ongoing investigations.

“A team of experience Prosecutors led by the DPP is currently undertaking a final review of the files,” the DPP said in a statement posted on ODPP twitter handle on Sunday.

About 40 individuals have already recorded a statement with detectives at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations headquarters.

According to sources, some of the lead suspects may be arrested this week.

The scandal has exposed impunity of the highest levels, with some suspects receiving million of shillings for delivering nothing.

One of such suspects did not tender for anything, but her accounts were debited with Sh60 million.

Some of the suppliers were paid hundreds of millions of shillings for inflating the cost of items, even purchasing a towel worth Sh200 at over Sh100,000.

In one year, NYS paid Sh1.1 billion for beef, meaning each of the 45,000 recruits was consuming 66 kilos on a daily basis.

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NYS also bought several car tires at an inflated cost of Sh1 million each.

The move has breathed fresh air to agitated taxpayers, following the scandal that has threatened to cripple the State department.

The culprit’s of the first Sh1.6 billion NYS scandal are yet to be brought to book, by DCI Kinoti and his counterpart, all first timers in their respective dockets have vowed to ensure those found guilty are punished.

All the 21 suspects were acquitted for lack of evidence; in what players within the criminal justice system said was as a result of bungled investigations.

“Those found culpable will be prosecuted,” Kinoti had earlier assured, during an interview with Capital News.

The Principal Secretary in the State Department of Public Service and Youth, Lilian Omollo, and National Youth Service Director General, Richard Ndubai – stepped aside to facilitate the ongoing investigations.

But even with the public outrage and appalling evidence, PS Omollo has refuted that Sh9 billion was lost at NYS.

She made the remarks on May 25, when she appeared before the Public Accounts Committee for a grilling.

“I do not think it is possible for that kind of money to be lost from an institution and the Auditor General for whom me as an accounting officer I live in fear of then does not find it, for me it is mind-boggling. I am not sure how it is that it never came to my attention that Sh9 billion was lost,” she stated.

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“If this colossal amount of money of Sh9bilion has been lost and was completely undetected by the Auditor General’s office, it indeed raises a lot of questions. We too are very keen to understand and unravel this alleged atrocity that has missed all the eyes of scrutiny.”

But she noted that “In any system that is manned by individuals, it is garbage in, garbage out so I am not saying that it is not possible to lose funds.”

If the Auditor General’s office would miss a loss of Sh9 billion from an institution, the PS said there is need to question the entire governance framework of the institutions that hold us to account.

A section of lawmakers have called for the disbandment of the Thika Road-based institution arguing that it no longer serves the needs of the public but some few crooked individuals.

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