A new audit report on the Judiciary has revealed new details of misuse of public funds by staff members, with other officials also said to have stolen funds meant to run the courts.
The report by the Office of the Auditor-General for the last financial year shows that the Judiciary failed to follow the law in utilizing funds it had received from the National Treasury, leading to losses running into millions of shillings.
The courts are also accused of failing to report cases of theft by some of its staff members or even the strategies it used to recover the stolen cash, according to the audit report for the 2021/22 financial year.
According to Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu, some of the cases of theft are said to have occurred in Embu, Nakuru, and Malindi court stations, where staff members are said to have lost about Sh88.7 million by June 2022.
The stolen funds, the report notes, included at least Sh2.7 million said to have been lost in the Embu court station, Sh84.6 million in Nakuru, and another Sh1.5 million at the Malindi court station.
Dr Gathungu notes that the Judiciary failed to explain how the funds were lost, recovery strategies, and court proceedings touching on the matter, meaning that public funds may have been lost either through theft by staff members or misappropriation.
The audit report, which has since been tabled in Parliament, also shows that the Judiciary is yet to recover funds stolen by staff at the Judiciary headquarters and Molo court in the 2013/14 and 2017/18 financial years, amounting to about Sh82 million.
The report notes that the judiciary had lost some Sh47.8 million in the 2013/14 financial year and another Sh34 million in the 2017/18 financial year.
“Deposits maintained by Judiciary headquarters and Molo court stations reflect losses dating back to 2013/14 and 2017/18 financial years through theft by staff members who have since been dismissed,” the report notes.
“The matter was referred to the Director of Criminal Investigations and Asset Recovery Agency, and the matter is still outstanding,” it adds.
Similarly, bank reconciliation statements for deposits in some fifty-eight stations reflected long outstanding items, which include receipts in the cash book not yet reflected in bank statements totaling Sh404.8 million and payments in the bank statements not yet recorded in cash books totaling Sh125.8 million.
The report further notes that the Judiciary has yet to deal with other pending audit matters, such as clearing district account balances amounting to Sh75.9 million and outstanding government imprests of Sh14 million.
Others include outstanding deposits of about Sh866.8 million held by various court stations, which have been outstanding for nearly 10 years and were yet to be surrendered to the Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority.
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