Three suspects have been arrested and Ksh 174,000 recovered after the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) bust a multi-million shillings illegal tax collection scheme.
The scheme which is being run by senior police officers and officials working with Kitui county government collects cash from lorries ferrying sand along the Mwingi-Matuu road at illegal roadblocks.
According to EACC, the money is part of a daily collection by individuals running an illegal tax collection syndicate believed to be collecting millions of shillings each month.
“Unnamed police bosses in Kitui county working together with county government officials set up roadblocks along the road. The first roadblock at Tyaa area is run by private individuals who collect Ksh 6,000 for every lorry of sand but issue a receipt of Ksh 1,000,” EACC officials stated.
The receipts belong to a private entity named Sand Transporters and Environmental Group.
“After the payments, the lorries then proceed to the second stop at Kanyonyo cess point which is manned by a Kitui county government official who is said to process the lorries and clear them upon confirmation of payment at the earlier stop through the issued receipt,” added the EACC.
During a raid by the EACC officials, Munyuma Mutinda and Jackson Mutai were arrested at the Tyaa checkpoint and the aforesaid amount of money was recovered.
Caroline Kingua, a county government official was also arrested at the Kanyonyo cess point where EACC recovered counterfoils of the receipts issued by the private entity at Tyaa.
According to EACC, the sand being ferried by the lorries is illegally mined as the County government of Kitui had suspended the mining activities via a Gazette notice in 2022.
At the same time, the National Environment Management Authority of Kenya (NEMA) has not issued a mining license.
“The commission is also investigating the owner of Sand Transporters and Environmental Group Peter Kalungu who has allegedly been collecting the tax and issuing receipts,” the anti-corruption agency explained.
However, it was not clear how long the syndicate operated as the three officers were nabbed in an undercover operation.
