Auditor General Edward Ouko. [Photo/the-star.co.ke]
The Ministry of Interior has been operating an illegal account at a local bank and deposited Sh8.7 billion without the authority of the National Treasury. Auditor General Edward Ouko in his 2016 report, states that the ministry transferred Sh8.7 million to a Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) account between June 2013 and January 2017.
The ministry, the Auditor General observes, opened and has been operating the said account contrary to the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act, which requires the authority of the National Treasury to operate bank accounts.
Interestingly, the ministry does not maintain bank reconciliations and related payment records in support of cash transfers and withdrawals from account contrary to the PFM Regulations.
In addition, audit of the ministry’s financial statements for the year ended June 30, 2016 did not disclose balance in the said account, contrary to the PFM regulations which require accounting officer of a national government entity to provide a list of all bank accounts with information of bank account balance as at June 30 every year.
Examination of available records, the report reads, show that 43 Letters of Credit (LC) valued at Sh8.6 billion were paid through the account by the State Department for Interior. However, the bank statements availed for audit reflects one payment of an LC amounting to Sh90.2 million.
“In this regard, therefore, the ministry and the bank in question have not clarified how the other 42 LCs valued at Sh8.6 million were managed,” said Ouko. According to the report, the ministry transferred Sh339.9 million in June 2015 through two payment vouchers to the account in question.