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Six revenue officers sacked over Nakuru fake licenses racket
DCI officer James Lelia (left) and Nakuru County Secretary Jospeh Motari display some of the fake business permits that were seized from printing shops on February 3, 2015. Six revenue officers have been sacked following the discovery of the racket. PHOTO | SULEIMAN MBATIAH | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- The sacked employees would record statements with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and be prosecuted if they are found to have been involved in the syndicate.
- On Monday, county officials, with the help of senior detectives, busted a multimillion-shilling racket involving its staff and local printing shops.
- Two interns at the county’s finance department were among the five people arrested during the crackdown.
- The detectives and enforcement officers carried away computers, printing machines and papers linked to the syndicate.
The Nakuru County government has sacked six senior revenue officers and suspended more than 200 interns following the unearthing of a multimillion-shilling fake licence-printing racket.
County Secretary Jospeh Motari on Thursday said the sacked employees would record statements with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and be prosecuted if they are found to have been involved in the syndicate.
Mr Motari said the county had also suspended the hiring of new staff until the matter is resolved.
On Monday, officials, with the help of senior detectives, busted a multimillion-shilling racket involving its staff and local printing shops, where fake single business permits and parking tickets were being prepared.
Two interns at the county’s finance department were among the five people arrested during the crackdown.
Mr Motari said the two interns had overstayed their terms.
“We even looked at their bank accounts and discovered that the man banks all his money in his wife’s account to conceal the activities being carried out at the printing shop. But one can see (that) withdrawals (and) banking are done daily and the current balance stood at Sh320,000,” he said.
The detectives and enforcement officers carried away computers, printing machines and papers linked to the syndicate. They identified two interns believed to be the main links between the illegal profiteers and the county staff.
“I believe this is an in-house, deeply entrenched practice that has seen the county lose millions of shillings,” said Mr Motari.
He said the county government would conduct a thorough human resource audit to weed out ghost workers.