The government through the National Treasury has unveiled an award payment scheme in which all whistleblowers will be awarded based on certain conditions.
The National Treasury on Tuesday, March 31 published the new proposed regulations on how whistleblowers would be paid in a bid to encourage more Kenyans to report misuse, theft of corporate funds.
CS Ukur Yatani’s ministry said that the payment scheme is set to encourage citizens to report any malpractices in the capital market.
In the proposal, every whistleblower will be paid 3 percent of the recovered amount with the maximum amount payable being Ksh5 million.
The new regulations will also see the government protect those who come forward with corporate-related fraud cases.
“A whistleblower’s identity and such other confidential information of the whistleblower shall not be disclosed unless required by law or an order of the court,” the regulation reads in parts.
Additional details of the Capital Markets Authority - Whistleblower - Regulations 2021 indicate that the regulators will be finding and making recommendations on what hinders people from volunteering to give such information.
“The Witness Protection Act shall be applicable to the protection of a whistleblower who qualifies for such protection as is prescribed under that Act,” regulations stated.
The government also said that the Capital Markets Authority will boost the confidence of investors since citizens will be motivated to report irregularities such as price manipulation, cooking of financial statements, theft and breach of the governance code.
CMA proposed regulation has now been taken to the public for additional views before it is implemented.
Kenya’s market regulator had opened an online portal in which fraud reports were to be submitted but it went for over one year with even one submitted case. The regulator then introduced the award system in a bid to encourage public participation.
In 2018, they then introduced the award in amendments to the CMA Act but has never been in effect because the regulations had not been published until March 30, 2021.
