Officers from the Ethics and Anti-Commission Commission (EACC) on Thursday raided the Nandi County headquarters in Kapsabet, where they seized crucial documents as part of investigations into allegations of mismanagement of public funds.
The county is said to have lost more than Sh3 billion paid to more than 1,800 workers who were hired illegally in the payroll scam.
The EACC is investigating the scheme involving unlawful payments to ghost workers and other payroll irregularities in the Nandi County Government.
As part of the investigations, the Commission conducted an investigative operation in the county government to seize the documents and other crucial evidentiary material.
This came after the county government allegedly failed to comply with the Commission’s Order to provide the required documents to its offices by Monday, September 30, 2024.
The EACC said the operation, which is pursuant to court orders, had yielded valuable evidentiary material that will support the ongoing investigation.
“Upon completion of the investigation, the outcome will inform appropriate action, which may include prosecution of the suspects and recovery of any public funds unlawfully paid to individuals," EACC said.
EACC Spokesman of the commission Eric Ngumbi confirmed the raid.
There was drama as staff at the county offices fled when the EACC team arrived.
Offices raided include that of the county secretary, public service board, communication, health, payroll and human resources, among others.
Last month, Governor Stephen Sang blew the whistle on the payroll fiasco after a human resources audit revealed a scam in which more than 1,800 workers were illegally hired and their names entered into the county payroll illegally.
Sang has vowed tough action on all those involved and invited the EACC and DCI to investigate the scam.
The 1,800 workers have since been sacked by the county within the last three weeks
“We will deal with this problem once and for all and no one, including my relatives, will be spared if they are involved," Sang said last month.