An independent audit has exposed a multi-million scam at the Milimani Law Courts.
The audit ordered by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) unleashed details of fraudulent dealings among Judiciary staff who swindle millions of shillings from the taxpayers.
In the audit, it emerged taxpayers could be losing millions in the fraudulent scheme being run by staff at the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi.
[caption caption="Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi(PHOTO/COURTESY)"]
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The audit established that staff at the court's registries made at least Sh40 million in 2016 and 2017 through a number of underhand deals.
Daily Nation reports that the court officers managed to pocket millions of shillings through use of fake receipt books, alteration of receipts and parallel receipts.
The findings are viewed as a clear signal of a trend that could be across all courts in the country, implying more money is looted.
An assessment by the Audit and Risk Management Directorate of the Judiciary established that Sh36 million disappeared through fake receipts alone.
At least 371 fake receipts identified in the audit aided the loss of Sh26 million at the Commercial and Tax Division registry.
Payments were made for the receipts despite them not being recorded in the Counter Receipt Book Register which is the Judiciary’s official record.
The Environment and Land Registry, for instance, lost Sh7.57 million to the fake receipts scam while a further Kshs498,635 went missing at the Civil Division.
"Although only 30 parallel receipts came to the attention of the auditors during the review of case files, more parallel receipts might have been issued since a receipt book contains 50 receipts. Consequently, a huge amount of public funds might have been lost as a result of parallel receipts,” reads the audit.
The revelations indicate that Kshs2.16 million was lost through the use of parallel receipts. These were found to have identical serial numbers to the genuine ones.
[caption caption="Milimani Law Courts car parking area(PHOTO/COURTESY)"]
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