Dr Kibunja and co-accused plead not guilty to charges in payroll fraud at the National Museums of Kenya
16:04:2024: Former Director General of National Museums of Kenya, Dr Mzalendo Kibunja and his four co-accused in the ghost workers scandal at the institution have pleaded not guilty to the charges of embezzling Kes449,392,075 from the institution.
Before Chief Magistrate Dr. Victor Wakumile at the Anti-Corruption Court, Dr Kibunja and Mr Stanvas Ongalo Opija, the man who replaced him in 2022 were arraigned on several charges of conspiracy to commit an offence of corruption, abuse of office, money laundering, acquisition of proceeds of crime, and financial misconduct.
Mr Opija had also been the Director of Human Resources and Administration in the period between January 2016 and February 2022 when Dr Kibunja served as Director General.
Also in the dock were accused number three, Oliver Okinyi Rabuor who served as Payroll ICT Officer, Wycliffe Odhiambo Ongata who served as the Payroll Accountant, and Oscar Mwaura, a private individual, as accused four and sixth respectively.
The Court heard that the accused, between January 2016 and February 2022, embezzled Kes449,392,075, which they paid as salaries and gratuity to persons purportedly employed by the National Museums of Kenya.
In the same period, the Court was told, Wycliffe Odhiambo Ongata, trading as Galmalink Enterprises, acquired Kes14,560,446 from Oscar Mwaura and Victor Owour while knowing that the money acquired from the National Museums of Kenya formed part of proceeds of crime.
Trading as Florab Technical Services Ltd, Oliver Okinyi Rabuor acquired Kes5,002,500 and Oscar Mwaura, trading as Altcoms Enterprises got Kes24,510,000 while knowing that the money formed part of the proceeds of crime from salaries and gratuity fraudulently paid to persons not employed by the National Museums of Kenya.
Stanvas Ongalo Opija, while serving as Ag. Director General of the National Museums of Kenya between February and June 2022 failed to comply with regulation 121 of the Public Finance Management Regulations 2015 by incurring wasteful expenditures of Kes49,885,476 as salary and gratuity paid to persons not employed by the National Museums of Kenya.
Investigations into the embezzlement of Kes491 million involving senior officials of the National Museums of Kenya established that the institution had a total of 1,282 employees out of which, 105 were ghost workers employed between June 2016 and June 2022. They were placed in grade NM6 under three-year renewable contract and were paid a total of Kes491 million.
Out of the average net income of Kes72,000 that a ghost worker received, it was discovered, he or she transferred back between Kes60,000 and Kes63,000 every month directly or indirectly to the four National Museums of Kenya officials. Wycliffe Ongata, the Payroll Accountant received Kes40,919,761 from the ghost workers. He also made cash deposits of Kes163 million into his M-pesa account.
Mzalendo Kibunja made deposits of Kes67 million into his M-pesa account and also received Kes50,200 from the Payroll Accountant. Oliver Okinyi Rabuor, the Payroll ICT Officer received a total of Kes41,815,814 from the ghost workers and made a total deposit of Kes57,200,951 into his M-pesa account. Stanvas Ongalo, while acting as Director General and Director HR received Kes200,000 from Oliver Okinyi and Kes1,913,100 from Wycliffe Odhiambo. He also made cash deposits into his M-pesa account amounting to Kes31,857,172.
Additionally, the ghost workers and National Museums of Kenya officials made false documents that were used to secure loans thereby exposing the institution and banks to further financial losses.
Financial analysis of the bank statements and records indicate flow of funds as shown below;
The five were released on cash bail of Kes5 million each or a bond of Kes10 million each with a surety of similar amount. The were asked to surrender there travel documents to court and to not interfere with prosecution witnesses. They will appear in Court on 2nd June 2024 when the matter will be mentioned.
