CWSK infrastructure project in Muranga. [Courtesy]
At regular intervals, sometimes weekly, sometimes monthly, two employees of the Child Welfare Society of Kenya (CWSK) alternate in making runs to the lobby of a local bank in Nairobi’s Kilimani area.
Numerous interviews with whistle blowers within the organisation show that the first instructions are issued from one of the offices to honour an invoice sent from one of the companies.
“Most of the time the invoices are generated within CWSK,” our source told Sunday Standard.
The office then issues a cheque from CWSK, paying one of the companies whose registration details the Sunday Standard has obtained.
SEE ALSO :Adoption only hurdle to passage of new lawAfter this is done, he then retreats to the electronic safe with a four-digit security code and removes the cheque book belonging to this particular company and proceeds to write another cheque for an over the counter withdrawal from the contractor’s account. He then hands over the cheques to either of the two men.
Sunday Standard has established that one of the men works as a social worker while the other is a driver for the organisation. After receiving the cheques, one of the men, depending on who is on duty, proceeds to the bank and deposits the cheque issued by CWSK as payment into the contractor’s account and almost immediately withdraws the deposited funds.
Billed as labour costs
Our investigations have also established that all the leaflets are pre-signed- with the two employees appending their signatures and ID numbers on the back of the cheques as well.
Sources also say that the role of these two employees was limited to depositing the payments from CWSK and withdrawing the same funds on behalf of the company from the two accounts and in the name of the company.
SEE ALSO :We must take care of vulnerable childrenSince the start of the two projects in Isiolo and Murang’a to date, this company has been paid some Sh487 million.
The relationship between CWSK and a second company is also confusing. This company’s contract was again a mirror image of those by the other three companies. And like the other companies, its cheque book is also in the custody of CWSK. Although the company is registered under the name of a lady, the main operator of the company’s bank account is a male city lawyer.
The lawyer’s relationship with CWSK can be traced to 2013 when he represented the State agency in a legal matter.
This second company received some Sh47.2 million during the 2018/2019 financial year, bringing money paid out by CWSK to it since inception of the project in to some Sh279 million.
Of this, Sh137.1 million has been billed as labour costs, some Sh67 million billed as overheads while Sh74 million went into the purchase of construction materials.
SEE ALSO :Children under the care of state agency suffer ill treatment, abuseYet another company chosen by CWSK to construct an integrated child and family centre in Western Kenya also has a signatory who is an employee of CWSK who works at the head office.
The owners of another company also implementing a construction project outside Nairobi also conduct a majority of the company’s transactions at the same bank as the three previous companies in Nairobi’s Kilimani area.
Documents in our possession show that this particular company is operated by the bank branch manager’s elder brother and his wife.
It is also at this same branch that CWSK employees, who are also signatories to the accounts of the CWSK suppliers go to deposit money on behalf of CWSK and withdraw it on behalf of the companies.
Investigations have also proved that the bank manager’s husband is also a supplier of various ICT materials to the child welfare body.
The links between the four companies and other service providers have led to the possibility of loss funds at CWSK. If true, endangers the lives of children under the care of CWSK.
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