Treasury officials ordered to repay Sh39 million fradulently paid in unauthorised allowances
Lady Justice L.M. Njuguna consequently ordered Murage to refund Sh20,318,000. Of this amount, Sh11,078,601 is to be forfeited from his Equity Bank account, with the remaining balance of Sh9,239,398.17 to be paid in cash.
In yet another landmark ruling, the High Court has authorised the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to recover over Sh39 million fraudulently paid as unauthorised allowances to two officers from the National Treasury and Planning.
In a judgment delivered by the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Division of the High Court in Nairobi, the two officials, Robert Theuri Murage and Doris Nafula Simiyu, were found to have illegally and irregularly received public funds disguised as taskforce, extraneous, entertainment, facilitation, and other unspecified allowances.
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Lady Justice L.M. Njuguna consequently ordered Murage to refund Sh20,318,000. Of this amount, Sh11,078,601 is to be forfeited from his Equity Bank account, with the remaining balance of Sh9,239,398.17 to be paid in cash.
Simiyu, on her part, was ordered to refund Sh18,862,000, with Sh8,953,988.74 forfeited from her National Bank account and the balance of Sh9,908,011.26 to be paid in cash.
At the same time, the court ordered that interest accrued be paid at court rates until full recovery, in addition to the costs of the suit being awarded to the EACC.
EACC RECOVERS OVER KES. 39 MILLION IN ILLEGAL ALLOWANCES FROM NATIONAL TREASURY OFFICIALS
— EACC (@EACCKenya) June 6, 2025
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has recovered Kes39,180,000 fraudulently paid to two officials of the National Treasury, Mr. Robert Theuri Murage and Ms. Doris Nafula… pic.twitter.com/SsjGBO6nAw
The judgment follows investigations conducted by the Commission, prompted by reports received in July 2022, alleging the misappropriation of public funds through irregular payments at the National Treasury.
“EACC investigations established that between January 2020 and June 2022, the two officers received allowances contrary to government policy, including: multiple and overlapping committee/taskforce payments; payments made without the requisite approval from the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC); use of outdated or superseded circulars to justify payments; receipt of allowances not applicable to their job groups or not recognised in law (e.g., facilitation allowance); and disbursement of undefined and duplicated allowances,” the Commission said in a statement.
During the trial, the Commission presented evidence from the SRC and the National Treasury demonstrating that the allowances were unauthorised and in clear violation of SRC circulars, including the binding advisories dated December 16, 2015 and April 22, 2021, which explicitly rejected the payment of such allowances.
The court reaffirmed that the SRC’s advice on public officers’ remuneration is binding under Article 230 of the Constitution, and held that the defendants knowingly participated in the fraudulent scheme, thereby unjustly enriching themselves at the expense of the public.
“This ruling reinforces the Commission’s mandate to recover misappropriated public funds and to protect the integrity of public finance management in Kenya. The Commission continues to pursue similar cases where government officials abuse their positions to illegally benefit from the public purse,” the agency added.
The recovered amounts will be returned to the National Treasury for public use.
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