A new audit has revealed that huge sums of money have been embezzled from President Uhuru Kenyatta's Presidential Digital Talent Programme (PDTP).
The audit, conducted between January and July 2017, indicates that four top officials at the government's ICT Authority colluded with banks to steal more than Sh160 Million in only six months.
The four named officials are:the Director Corporate Services Felix Ongaga, Head of Finance Daniel Ouma, Peter Mwangi an accountant and Antony Mwangi a cashier.
According to the Chief Auditor, Mr Patrick Masika, most of the stolen money was allocated to internship opportunities targeting 400 engineering and ICT graduates under the President's project.
Mr Masika reports that the four senior officials were directly involved in fraudulent cash transfers that were masked as employee deductions, employee savings sacco deductions and per diem allowances.
Hundreds of withdrawals made from the authority's bank accounts using forged documents were transferred to the same private bank accounts which had different names.
One bank facilitated payments to a single account that had over 21 different listed names of those who had access to the account.
"Collusion with banks is needed for money to be wired to the same account number under different names," the report read in part.
The four officials, whose names are withheld, are accused of having received Sh20 Million to their private accounts on one occasion under the guise of out-of-office allowances.
"This will translate into 541 nights out of office, which is not possible in six months," Masika's report observed.
The second edition of the PDTP, involving the 400 interns, was launched in August 2016 and is set to end by September 2017.
Masika has expressed fears that the theft may have stretched for longer than the six months investigated, suggesting that the loss to the taxpayers could be much larger.
