- Sources told The Weekly Vision the change of guard at the trouble-ridden Geothermal Development Corporation (GDC) has exposed the former managers’ involvement in several financial misappropriations, especially the Bogoria Silalai Geothermal project. Under Mr Othieno’s leadership, many things went wrong and pressure is now mounting on the DCI and Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to move with speed and unearth other mega scams during his tenure
By The Weekly Vision
The recent appointment of Walter Osebe Nyambati as the Chairman (Independent Non -Executive Director) and Paul Ngugi as the Chief Executive at the Geothermal Development Corporation has sent several senior staff into panic mode. This is barely two months after the expiry of former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Jared Othieno’s contract.
Sources told The Weekly Vision the change of guard at the trouble-ridden GDC has exposed the former managers’ involvement in several financial misappropriations, especially the Bogoria Silalai Geothermal project. Under Mr Othieno’s leadership, many things went wrong and pressure is now mounting on the DCI and Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to move with speed and unearth other mega scams during his tenure.
Before Othieno left office, GDC was on its deathbed with hundreds of shillings being looted which saw the company facing serious financial constraints leading to a default on the payment of workers’ salaries. Sources say the former team was involved in various irregularities which led to loss of funds. Investigations revealed that Ksh.17.9m was invested in a Call Account at a local bank on 24th June 2022. The funds were drawn from the bank’s Land Compensation account.
The investment was contrary to The National Treasury Circular No.14/2018 which provides that no State Corporation should invest surplus funds in any financial institution/bank without prior approval of The National Treasury. Sources say Othieno and his team did the investments without approval by the Board of Directors of the Company.
To conceal their dirty deals, it has been discovered that the former management failed to open and maintain a separate project bank account. Investigations however reveal that several transactions relating to the project were made through other Company accounts contrary to Regulation 76(1) of the Public Finance Management (National Government) Regulations, 2015. In the circumstances, Management was in breach of the law.
It has further been noted that the former management failed to prioritize payments of Pending Bills. Reports indicate that the project had pending bills amounting to Ksh. 227,774,000. Investigations revealed that bills amounting to Ksh. 33,938,773 were brought forward from the 2020/2021 financial year and ought to have been paid as a first charge in the 2021/2022 financial year as required by The National Treasury Circular No.10/2020 dated 16 June 2020.
It is worth noting that despite paying suppliers, the pending bills that had already been received by the Company as of 30 June 2022 should have been settled, hence there was no proper reason for the failure to prioritize them.
