Court orders Treasury staff to refund millions earned through fraudulent allowances

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has secured a significant legal victory by recovering over Ksh 39 million that was fraudulently paid as unauthorized allowances to two senior officials in the National Treasury.

In a landmark ruling delivered on Wednesday, Lady Justice L.M. Njuguna of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Division of the High Court found that Robert Theuri Murage and Doris Nafula Simiyu had irregularly and illegally received public funds under various unjustified allowance categories.

“This court comes to the inevitable conclusion that the allowances that were paid to the Defendants were irregularly and unlawfully paid to them. This court is not therefore persuaded by the Defendants contention that the payments were made within the law,” the ruling stated.

The court determined that between January 2020 and June 2022, the two officials received allowances, including taskforce, extraneous, entertainment, facilitation, and other undefined payments—all of which had not been approved by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC).

The judge noted that the two officers admitted in their evidence to the court that there is no allowance known as ‘facilitation allowance’ under the Public Service Commission Human Resources manual. Despite this, they received substantial payments categorized under this head.

“This court finds that the plaintiff (EACC) has proved its case on a balance of probabilities and makes the following orders in respect of the first defendant: A declaration is hereby issued that the sum of Ksh 20,318,000.00 was fraudulently embezzled from National Treasury and Planning. An order directing payment by the 1st Defendant of Ksh. 20,318,000.00 fraudulently embezzled from the National Treasury and Planning,” the judge ruled regarding Robert Theuri Murage.

Concerning , Doris Nafula Simiyu, the court declared that “the sum of Ksh 18,862,000 was fraudulently embezzled from the National Treasury and Planning. An order is hereby issued directing payment by the second defendant of Ksh 18,862,000 fraudulently embezzled from the National Treasury and Planning.”

The court observed that some of the allowances paid to the two were unspecified, yet they received those sums. The EACC had also raised concerns after discovering that the two were members of numerous committees with overlapping duties.

The ruling followed a comprehensive investigation launched by the EACC in July 2022 after reports of misappropriated funds within the National Treasury.

Findings revealed; Multiple and overlapping taskforce payments; payments lacking approval from the SRC; reliance on outdated or revoked government circulars; unauthorized allowance types not supported by policy or law; as well as receipt of allowances that did not align with the officers’ job grades.

During the trial, evidence from the SRC and the National Treasury confirmed that the payments violated constitutional provisions and binding SRC advisories, including circulars issued on 16 December 2015 and 22 April 2021.

The court emphasized that the SRC’s advice under Article 230 of the Constitution is binding and held that the accused officers knowingly participated in a fraudulent scheme, enriching themselves at the expense of public funds.

“This ruling reaffirms the Commission’s mandate to recover stolen public resources and uphold the integrity of public finance management,” EACC said in a statement.

The anti-graft agency confirmed that the recovered funds will be returned to the National Treasury for public use.

The Commission reiterated its commitment to pursuing similar cases where public officers have unlawfully benefited from state funds.