The National Oil Corporation of Kenya (Nock) has suspended seven employees over lost Sh100 million fuel, this is to pave way for an investigation into the theft.
This is after nearly 900,000 litres of oil were allegedly stolen from the corporation.
Those suspended include an accountant, stock analyst, depot analyst, commercial manager and finance manager, territory manager and distribution manager.
The seven who are charged with stock taking were interdicted following a forensic audit on the loss that occurred between 2016 and 2018.
Nock chief executive MaryJane Mwangi said the company had invited the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) to take over the investigations.
“The DCI was actually at our offices on Thursday investigating the matter. They are supposed to be interviewing those people who had to step aside because we don’t want to run the risk of documents getting lost,” she told the National Assembly Energy Committee on Thursday.
“Some of the key people who were involved in that loss when they realized what they had done they resigned,” MaryJane said.
She added that Nock was waiting for the final audit report to quantify exactly how much product was lost and its value.
This is the second case the DCI is investigating at Nock in a span of six months.
It is also looking into fraudulent contractors that supplied 67,251 faulty gas cylinders under the Mwananchi gas project.
The revelation comes even as it emerged that Nock could be on its knees financially owing to the large sums of money owed by other Government institutions.
Mwangi told the committee that the firm was owed Sh1.1 billion by key State agencies, including Kenya Ports Authority and Parliament.
“For instance, Parliament owes us Sh60 million. We have been fueling their vehicles but they are not honouring their pledges. We are already cutting links with some of the agencies because we will have problems just because we want to please others,” she said.
MaryJane also told the committee that the corporation was under-capitalised and was relying heavily on financing through borrowing to sustain its operations.
Nock joins the growing list of State corporations and departments that are on the radar of the DCI, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) over misappropriation of taxpayers’ money.
![](http://biasharaleo.co.ke/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/BL-17th-anniversary-Logo-300x212-1.jpg"){kind=logo}
