A senior clerical officer who has worked at the Ministry of Environment since 2009 is under investigation for allegedly using his public position to benefit from large payments made to private companies.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission has linked the officer, who works at the State Department for Environment, Climate Change and Forestry, to ten firms that received a total of Sh385,993,652.65 from the ministry between the 2014/2015 and 2024/2025 financial years.
The companies named in the inquiry are Concept Three Company Ltd, ELMS Africa, Syndou Company Ltd, Tads Enterprises Ltd, Ping Transline Solutions Ltd, Denk Enterprises Ltd, Jenntech Systems Company Limited, Alibaba Tours and Travel Limited, Big Sky Tyres and Mijek Digital Systems Limited.
Investigators found that the clerk did not declare any interest in the companies that won repeated tenders from the same ministry that employed him.
Under the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, public officers are required to keep their private business interests separate from their official duties.
The commission’s findings show this rule was breached over a period of about ten years.
Detectives followed the money after it left the ministry accounts and concluded that the total amount formed proceeds of crime.
Directors, owners and bank signatories of the ten firms are alleged to have carried out transactions aimed at hiding the source of the funds.
On 30 June 2026 the commission sent its file to the Director of Public Prosecutions recommending charges against the companies, their directors and the public officer.
The proposed charges included conflict of interest, using proceeds of crime, ten counts of acquisition of proceeds of crime, and ten counts of money laundering.
The DPP returned the file on 22 July 2026 with instructions for further investigations before any decision on prosecution.
As of the latest quarterly report, the case remains open and no charges have been filed in court.
The officer has not been named in public documents and continues to hold the same post he has occupied since 2009.
Questions remain about who controlled the ten firms and how they kept winning the tenders.
This case forms part of a wider pattern noted in the same EACC report.
In Turkana County a community health nurse later promoted to Registered Nurse II was linked to a company that received Sh2.76 million from the county. In another Turkana matter a principal finance officer was tied to a firm that won 17 tenders worth Sh62.6 million.
The company’s directors were the officer’s brothers and mother, and large sums went into accounts where the officer was a signatory.
A Kitui County chief officer was also recommended for prosecution over five companies that received Sh14.12 million after he allegedly influenced awards while holding authority to incur expenditure.
Across these files the pattern is the same. Public servants, including those in lower grades such as clerical and nursing posts, form or control companies that then bid for and win contracts from the institutions that pay their salaries.
Interests are not declared. Payments are made. Funds are moved through multiple accounts and related parties.
The result is public money taken from budgets meant for environmental protection, health services and county infrastructure. Sh386 million could have supported forest stations, climate projects or basic services for many families.
Instead it went to a network of ten firms linked to one clerk who remained on the government payroll.
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