This archive report was first published on 5 January 2020.
Published on January 5, 2020, a recent case unearthed by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has exposed a major scheme at Kenya Power to defraud millions of Kenyans of their hard-earned money.
Kenya Power, which supplies electricity to most Kenyans, has been caught up in one of 2019's largest graft scandals. The DCI's Serious Crime Unit uncovered a network of Kenya Power executives, staff, customers, and contractors accused of colluding to defraud Kenyans since April 2019.
Many are already facing charges, and more are likely to do so in the coming weeks. The scheme involved Information and Communications Technology employees allowing outsiders access to the organisation's private information.
The DCI's primary suspect is Mr Edgar Ojienda, who worked as a contractor for the firm between 2014 and 2017. He is accused of using his connections at the company to defraud millions of unsuspecting customers.
Mr Ojienda and a group of fellow fraudsters are said to have manipulated both pre-paid and post-paid systems by doctoring accounts and inflating power bills. In one example, a local company was defrauded of Sh1.2 million after Kenya Power staff changed M-Pesa reference numbers.
These anomalies were uncovered after IT experts found problems in the firm's billing system. An audit in 2018 found that Kenya Power lost Sh65 million on transactions.
Now that the fraudsters have been tracked down by the DCI, we can rest assured the right measures will be put in place to ensure Kenya Power is better regulated and all those responsible are brought to justice.
