According to reports by Business Daily Africa, the acting Managing Director of Kenya Power; Jared Othieno told the Senate committee on Energy that 13 members of staff were found to have been involved in generating tokens illegally.
An estimate of 3,500 customers colluded with memebers of staff at Kenya Power, to steal 35.3 million Kenyan Shillings worth of prepaid tokens generated illegally from the utility firm.
Mr. Jared Othieno stated that the staff who were involved were either sacked or disciplined administratively, Mr Othieno said.
Kenya Power’s acting Managing Director also stated that the electricity distributor, will not be compensating any customer found to have been involved with the staff to steal the tokens on diverse dates between January 2018 and February 2018.
While speaking to the committee chaired by Nyeri Senator Ephraim Maina, Mr. Othieno told the committee that, “All the customers who were affected bought tokens at discounted amounts knowingly from my fraudulent staff. None of the money came to Kenya Power.”
He added that some customers and staff have already recorded statements with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
The acting Managing Director stated that, “They went ahead and bought Sh3,000 worth of tokens at a price of Sh1,000 and used them in their homes. Kenya Power went to the affected customers and we told them that they engaged in fraud since Kenya Power didn’t get a single cent of your money. They have since signed statements saying they colluded with our staff.”
The prepaid tokens had been advertised on social media for sale at discounted prices.
Mr Othieno did not however, explain why Kenya Power will not be compensating customers who may have been tricked into the fraud by its officers.
Members of the senate committee accused Kenya Power of strangling customers with high power tariffs as a result of its monopoly.
Bungoma Senator Mosees Wetang’ula challenged Jared Othieno, saying, “Your staff went out and sold fraudulent tokens. Whatever your employees do binds you as a company. Because you are a monopoly, when your officers engage in fraud, it doesn’t bother you but instead you go and punish customers who were tricked into the fraud more by recovering the money the fraudster took.”
Jared Othieno however, made it known that Kenya Power has hired the services of an independent ICT expert from Deloitte to audit its systems.
