Kenyan police implicated in mega scam

Written By:KBC reporters , Posted: Tue, Aug 31, 2010

Police have been accused of colluding with the management of Harambee Sacco to cover up financial impropriety and squander of members contribution to the giant saving co-operative society.

Attorney General Amos Wako said there was clear indication of police culpability while investigating the fraud that has been going on in the Sacco for years now.

Wako said police and the management of the Sacco have been playing a game of musical chairs to cover up looting.

While admitting that the management of the Sacco had grossly misappropriated members' contributions, Wako said he had ordered a forensic audit to be conducted on the Sacco and those involved be prosecuted.

He said vital documents detailing the extent of the rot at the Sacco have either been destroyed or hidden to scuttle investigations into the matter.

MPs however wondered why there has been no action taken on the Sacco's central management committee which they said was behaving as if it was much too powerful to be touched.

The legislators claimed that a letter written to Members of Parliament by some members of the Sacco had indicted the minister of co-operative development for not taking action against the committee despite being informed of the matter while those who blew the whistle in the mega corruption have been sacked from the Sacco.

Speaker Kenneth Marende ordered the relevant committee of parliament to further interrogate the matter and report back to parliament their findings within 21 days.

Meanwhile parliament was on Tuesday told that some duty free shops at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport will have to go.

Transport minister Amos Kimunya said reconfiguration of the Airport was underway to pave way for passengers' waiting lounges and some of the shops had to be done away with.

Kimunya said operators whose leases had not expired would be refunded their money and no new leases would be signed as the airport moved to modernization.

Nominated MP Musikari Kombo who had sought to know why there were shops all over the airport wondered why the duty free shops all selling the same items were allocated to one person.

Kombo also sought to know if the said individual was holding the shops in proxy.

Kimunya said the business of the airport was not to lease out shops but to cater for passengers entering or transiting the country through the airport.

The duty free shops Kimunya admitted were allocated to one person who then subcontracted them to other individuals.