Teleposta Towers in Nairobi (inset) Mr Eric Kipkurui Mutai.
To the staff and managers working at the State Department for Correctional Services at Teleposta Towers in Nairobi, Mr Eric Kipkurui Mutai is a cleaner.
He joined the department in 2017 as a support staff and until Thursday, July 18, 2024, he would come in, clean floors, wipe and dust surfaces, and depart after an eight-hour shift.
All seemed well until the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) cast a spotlight on his activities and revealed baffling details: Mr Mutai is allegedly the owner of seven registered companies that had already received Sh257 million from the prisons department for supplying “air”.
The companies are Facton Logistics Enterprises, Homex Logistics, Hygienic Ventures, Nerimas General Agencies, Trechris Services, Unique Supplies and White Unicorn Logistics.
On Thursday, he was arrested together with four other suspects for allegedly siphoning Sh450 million through briefcase companies.
The other suspects are Ms Sarah Kemunto Kerandi (chief finance officer), Mr Moses Juma Sirengo (principal accountant), Mr Jack Nyariango Ogao (accountant) and Ms Maureen Ndungwa (a director of one of the companies involved).
Mr Mutai had registered the companies between 2012 and 2016 and they specialised in the provision of different ‘services and goods’.
On paper and in books of account, EACC said, each of the companies “supplied” different goods to seven prisons in Nairobi.
Consequently, a total of Sh257 million was used to pay the seven companies from the State Department of Correctional Services’ Central Bank, account No. 1000302054.
According to EACC investigations, Facton Logistics Enterprises received Sh13.2 million, Homex Logistics (Sh62.5 million), Hygienic Ventures (Sh56 million), Nerimas General Agencies (Sh22 million), Trechris Services (Sh13.6 million), Unique Supplies (Sh79.4million while White Unicorn Logistics got Sh10 million.
EACC says that its investigations established that the companies did not supply the food rations and they had falsified payment vouchers to approve the payment.
“That there are no attached local purchase orders, inspection and acceptance committee certificates in the payment vouchers. That none of the deliveries indicated on the delivery notes attached to the payment vouchers was recorded in the prison books,” the commission said.
The commission further noted that delivery notes for the goods supplied were missing.
“That the delivery notes have no name of the receiving officer, which should be included. That none of payments was charged in the vote book in the respective vote book of the prison where the deliveries were purported to have been made,” the EACC said.
Out of the total amount received, the commission alleged that Mr Mutai withdrew Sh133 million from the bank accounts and used the money to purchase properties.
In 2022, the High Court froze his assets, including a piece of land, seven cars and a house in Nairobi worth Sh17.5 million.
The commission is pursuing criminal charges against Mr Mutai and four others after the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions approved charges— including procurement irregularities, abuse of office and falsification of documents with the intention to steal public resources.
The anti-corruption watchdog is pursuing other senior officials implicated in the scandal.
