A report by audit firm Deloitte on Kenya Airways has unearthed how senior officials swindled the airline's funds leading to its poor financial status.
Deloitte revealed that KQ was buying fuel at inflated prices since 2010 due to biased procurement procedures executed by top managers.
According to the report, no fuel tenders were issued from January 2013 to July 2015. The public was also given a short notice to bid for the tenders and those awarded did not follow the right procedures as constituted by the airline.
The audit also showed that 32 transactions of South African Rand (ZAR) and Emirati Dirham were sold below the market prices for tickets.
“In addition, KQ faced a potential loss of KES resulting from the sale of Sh4,750,000 resulting from the sale of ZAR 5 million at a lower rate of Sh6.75 to the ZAR as opposed to the market rate of Sh7.7 to the ZAR,” the report reads in part.
It has also come to light that top Kenya Airways bosses received bribes from the airline's agencies in South Africa, whom they colluded with in selling the currencies below the set market prices.
The report highlights that the KQ bosses also hiked Dubai bank charges and sort bank guarantee of Sh700 Million way above the board's approved limit.
Deloitte further reported that the national carrier did not receive revenues earned in different countries since the monies were being transferred to private bank accounts of senior managers.
The report comes after, Kenya Airways made a loss of Sh25.7 Billion in 2015 due to poor management decisions and operational inefficiencies. In a bid to revive the airline, the KQ board decided to retrench up to 600 workers to cut down costs.
The government also tried to bail out the troubled airline by allocating Sh4.2 Billion to hasten its revival.
