Kenyan police have arrested the head of a government youth agency as part of an investigation into the alleged theft of 8bn Kenyan shillings (\u00a359m; $78m).<\/p>\n
National Youth Service (NYS) Director General Richard Ndubai was detained, while 40 civil servants and 14 private sector officials were charged.<\/p>\n
The missing funds were allegedly stolen in a scheme involving senior government officials and ghost suppliers.<\/p>\n
This is the second corruption scandal to hit NYS in the last three years.<\/p>\n
Kenya’s chief prosecutor Noordin Mohamed Haji told a news conference that he would examine the alleged role of banks in the scandal, Reuters reports.<\/p>\n
The probe is seen as a blow against President Uhuru Kenyatta’s pledge to stamp out corruption, which he made when first elected in 2013.<\/p>\n
The NYS is an initiative by the government to train young people in life and business skills. It was part of Mr Kenyatta’s plan to fix Kenya’s high youth unemployment.<\/p>\n
The corruption scandal, which was brought to light by suppliers who had not been paid, saw funds allegedly stolen via NYS through fake invoices and multiple payments.<\/p>\n
In one instance, a woman was revealed by Kenyan media to have received 59m Kenyan shillings ($586,000; \u00a3440,000) from NYS to supply canned beef, pineapples, beans, biscuits and hammers.<\/p>\n
But she never delivered anything in return,\u00a0Kenyan newspaper Daily Nation<\/a>\u00a0reports.<\/p>\n NYS is also alleged to have paid 10m Kenyan shillings for beef in a year. This would mean that each recruit would have to eat 66 kg (145 lbs) of beef a day.<\/p>\n The office of the Director of Public Prosecutions\u00a0said on Twitter\u00a0<\/a>that prosecution would start against the suspects – most of whose names have yet to be made public.<\/p>\n Charges include stealing of public funds, forgery and abuse of office.<\/p>\n According to Reuters, a government SUV brought several unidentified people and Mr Ndubai to a police station in the Nairobi neighbourhood of Muthaiga on Monday.<\/p>\n Principal secretary of the youth ministry, Lilian Omollo, was among those detained, AFP says.<\/p>\n Neither she nor Mr Ndubai have commented publicly on their arrest.<\/p>\n Kenya country has been plagued by corruption scandals. According to a March report by the auditor general, some $400m of public funds could not be accounted for.<\/p>\n In recent weeks fraudulent payments of $30m have been uncovered at the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB). Meanwhile, multi-million dollar contracts were awarded to friends and family of employees at electricity utility Kenya Power.<\/p>\n Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"