Josephine Kabura Irungu, the key suspect in the Sh791 million National Youth Service (NYS) scam, on Tuesday appeared before the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee for questioning.
The businesswoman aroused emotions and angered members of the committee who accused her of lying and failing to respond straight to questions from the members.
Here are six disclosures made by Kabura that shocked the MPs and have kept everyone talking.
The first is that she registered 20 companies in one month. Kabura told the team that she was the sole proprietor and ran them single-handedly. Kabura said she received the mega contracts through former Devolution minister Anne Waiguru, who resigned after she was implicated in the scandal.
She also surprised many by saying she paid suppliers Sh52 Million in cash without getting receipts. Kabura claimed that she carried Sh52 million in person without any help and took it to a quarry in Ongata Rongai. When asked if she got receipts she said, “no”.
Kabura also said she could carry Sh100 Million in cash without any help. Kabura revealed that she would withdraw even Sh100 million from a bank and carry it in cash without any security personnel accompanying her.
“How were you able to carry Sh100 million in cash? It is like carrying two bags of cement. Put differently, that’s five jerry cans. Can you carry five jerry cans?” posed Public Accounts Committee chairman Nicholas Gumbo. “Yes, I can carry five jerry cans,” answered Kabura, sending the MPs into fits of laughter.
Fourthly, her account had just Sh650 before the first payment was made.
Interestingly, as KRA keeps running after small money, Kabura made Sh1.6 billion and paid zero tax. She confessed that she has never filed tax returns with the Kenya Revenue Authority despite pocketing Sh1.6 billion from the NYS contracts.
And wouldn’t you want to be a friend to such a person? She said that she loaned a friend Sh60 million without any security. John Kago was this friend and Kabura said, "I know him and even gave him a loan of Sh60m which he was to refund and he did."
Kago is a driver with Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) and was grilled last week. She said she got an interest of 10 per cent.