A Police Commander was Tuesday put on the spot to explain his source of wealth and huge M-Pesa transactions to the National Police Service Commission (NPSC).
Chief Inspector Abubakar Bakari stationed in Bamburi, Mombasa, could not account for his alleged Sh50 Million wealth and M-Pesa transactions amounting to millions of shillings to the NPSC led by Johnstone Kavuludi.
Mr Bakari, who has been in the service for 9 years, could not tell why he was sending his superiors money and receiving money from junior officers.
“We had been having merry-go-rounds with 13 base commanders when I was in Webuye. In that chama, I have been the collector and that is why I used to send money and receive as well. All those transactions were made during that merry-go-round,” Mr Bakari told the panel sitting at the Kenya School of Government in Mombasa.
When asked to mention the 13 members in Bungoma, Busia, Kakamega, Nairobi among other areas whom he was sending money, the officer could hardly remember five of them.
Mr Bakari could also not answer why a line registered under his number was involved in transferring Sh36,000 to different officers, claiming he had many numbers and it was difficult to recall all of them.
During the grilling, one line drew particular attention since about Sh743,450 was transferred in 43 transactions, to among other people one Evans Gatembe. The same line was used to transfer Sh1,095,150, but the senior officer said he was in charge of collecting money in the said merry-go-round.
Mr Bakari operated four different bank accounts which for the last 3 years have been involved in transferring large sums of money. In response to the accounts, Bakari said he had been supplying chicken to hotels in Mombasa hence the money in the accounts were payments made.
The Inspector was given 14 days to supply the commission with detailed M-Pesa and bank transaction information.
The NPSC targets 238 officers in the Coast region.
