Following revelations that 30-year-old Anne Wambere Ngirita and her family had received over Sh. 200 million for nonexistent supplies to the National Youth Service, a Nairobi court has started hearing how the mega theft of public funds played out.
For a start, Ms. Ngirita was paid an astonishing Sh. 60 million for supplying air. Appparently, Ann Wambere Ngirita got a small chunk of the Sh. 9 billion believed to have been spirited away by corruption cartels.
The revelations say she has never tendered to supply goods and services to the government. She does not have an office either.
All the 30-year-old Ann Wambere Ngirita did was walk to NYS headquarters and request a procurement officer to allow her to supply goods.
On paper, she was supposed to supply foodstuff, stationery, hammers and firewood.
Nevertheless, she received money in an account held by her company – Annwaw Investment.
The Daily Nation reported:
Ann Wambere Wanjiku Ngirita admitted that since the firm has no office or other business premises, she only used a Certificate of Registration of Business and a KRA tax compliance certificate to get a contract at NYS.
Detectives are preparing to charge her with fraudulently receiving Sh. 59 million in one transaction.
Saying she has never bid for a tender, Ms Ann Wambere Wanjiku Ngirita revealed that all she did was visit the NYS college in Gilgil and request a procurement officer if she could supply foodstuff. She did not say if the officer was known to her.
Ann Wambere Ngirita is among 43 people who have been questioned by detectives at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
Public Service Principal Secretary Lillian Mbogo-Omollo and NYS Director-General Richard Ndubai are among individuals who were arrested earlier in the year in relation to this scandal.
Ms Ngirita’s case is curious. During a session with detectives, she had confessed to not knowing how much she was paid by NYS or what she supplied.
She told the police that the procurement officer gave her a Local Purchase Order.
She was supposed to supply canned beef, pineapples, beans, biscuits and hammers to the NYS.
Ms Ann Wambere Ngirita then requested a person she did not name to source and deliver the requirements. She also gave that person delivery notes to fill.
According to the woman’s statement, she does not know where the goods were sourced, their cost and if they were delivered though she personally filled invoices.
“I don’t know what I supplied but I was shown the vouchers at the DCI,” the statement reads.
Ann Wambere Ngirita began supplying goods to the NYS mechanical and transport branch in 2014.
“I’m not aware of the procurement process as I have never been involved in any,” the statement goes on.
Ann Wambere Ngirita operates three bank accounts: Annwaw Investment, Ann Wambere and Ann Wambere Wanjiku Investments.
Ms Ngirita sat her Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination in 2008. She opened a shop in 2010 which closed down the same year.
She told detectives that she then travelled to Germany “for an academic course”.
According to her statement, she worked at a company whose name she “could not recall” and earned €1,200 (Sh141,600) a month. She was on the job for a year. According to her, Annwaw and Ann Wambere Wanjiku Investments were registered on June 16, 2015.
On paper, Ms Ngirita supplied goods to the NYS college in Gilgil and the mechanical and transport department in Nairobi.
It was largely suspected that the Ngiritas were pawns in a complex corruption network.
