Youth Fund CEO is suspended as probe launched over cash

The National Youth Development Fund Chief Executive Officer, Ms Catherine Namuye, has been suspended, the Sunday Nation has established.

Although it was not immediately clear why the board suspended her, we learned that the Banking Fraud Unit had flagged suspicious transactions in the Youth Fund account that were brought to the attention of the board that is chaired by Mr Bruce Odhiambo.

On Saturday, Ms Namuye was non-committal as to whether she had been suspended or not when we contacted her.

However, sources said that Devolution Permanent Secretary Peter Mangiti had advised the Youth Fund board to suspend her and start investigations.

Sunday Nation: We would like to confirm whether you have been suspended from office or asked to step aside as the CEO.

Ms Namuye: Over what? Where did you get that information?

SN: From our contacts and sources.

Ms Namuye: Let me call my chairman (Mr Bruce Odhiambo) and speak to him first before I can call you back to comment. I will let you know what we have decided.

However, Ms Namuye did not call back.

We established, on Saturday, that the Fund’s documents had been forged and used to transfer between Sh180 and Sh200 million to an account of a top official of the organisation.

FLAGGED AMOUNTS
The amount was flagged by the Banking Fraud Unit, which has been investigating the matter.

However, insiders gave a breakdown of the amounts and how the transactions happened.

We were told that on February 11, Sh115,710,000 was transferred from the accounts of Youth Fund to a bank account belonging to Quondum Ltd in a local bank. The amounts were allegedly for unspecified supplies.

Banking Fraud Unit also flagged Sh65,718,946 on April 27, 2015, which was wired to the same bank account belonging to Quondum Ltd.

Meanwhile, it is also claimed that the Fund cannot account for Sh400 million the Fund had deposited in a fixed deposit account.

The board could not ascertain that the money is still there. The interest earned could also not be accounted for.

The board has now called in investigators, who are expected to complete their investigations next week.

The Fund chairman, Mr Odhiambo, could not be reached for comment.

MALPRACTICES
Ms Namuye was appointed CEO in July 2014 after holding the position in an acting capacity for more than a year.

She was previously a general manager at the Fund.

Before joining the Fund she held the position of senior support manager at the NGO Consortium/NGO Security programme.

Ms Namuye’s name featured in the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission dossier President Uhuru Kenyatta tabled in Parliament on March 26.

The EACC report had said she was under investigation for alleged malpractices.

However, she was not among the officials who stepped down as had been directed by the President.