
EACC recovers Sh67mn fraudulently paid allowances from Treasury official » Capital News
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 15 – The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has secured a landmark judgment resulting in the recovery of over Sh67 million fraudulently paid as unauthorized allowances to Faith Jematia Kiptis, an officer at the National Treasury and Planning.
In a judgment delivered on Tuesday by Justice Musyoki of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Division of the High Court in Nairobi, the court found that Kiptis had illegally and irregularly received public funds disguised as taskforce, extraneous, entertainment, facilitation, and other unspecified allowances.
The court ordered Kiptis to refund Sh67.7 million, including Sh2.4 million forfeited from her Equity Bank account and Sh6.3 million from her KCB Bank account.
It also directed her to pay interest at court rates until full recovery and to bear the costs of the suit.
“The judgment follows investigations by the Commission, which were initiated upon receipt of reports alleging embezzlement of public funds by Kiptis,” EACC stated.
Upon conclusion of the investigations, the Commission filed a plaint dated January 18, 2023.
Breached policy
EACC investigations established that between January 2020 and June 2022, Faith Jematia Kiptis received allowances contrary to government policy.
These included multiple and overlapping committee and taskforce payments; payments made without the requisite approval from the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC); allowances not applicable to her job group; and payments not provided for in government procedure manuals and circulars.
The investigations further uncovered the disbursement of undefined and duplicated allowances that were neither recognized nor specified in any formal guidelines.
During the trial, the Commission presented evidence showing that the allowances were unauthorized and in direct violation of SRC circulars—particularly the binding advisory dated December 16, 2015, and a subsequent circular issued on April 22, 2021—both of which expressly prohibited such payments.
The court reaffirmed that SRC’s advice on public officers’ remuneration is binding under Article 230 of the Constitution and held that Kiptis knowingly participated in the fraudulent scheme, unjustly enriching herself at the expense of the public.
The Court further noted that the National Treasury ought to have awaited the advice of the SRC before effecting any such payments.
This judgment is one of several successful recoveries by the Commission involving funds embezzled from the National Treasury between February 2020 and June 2022.
The misappropriated amounts had been disguised as extraneous, facilitation, taskforce/committee, and other undefined allowances.
To date, the Commission has recovered a total of Sh174 million in unlawfully and irregularly paid allowances to National Treasury officials, through both Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms and court processes.