It wasn’t me! Liquor Board Chair sets record straight on missing Sh150m
Barely a day after the office of Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu reported that her office cannot trace how Sh150 million from the Nairobi County Alcoholic Drinks Control and Licensing Board were spent, the board has come out to set the record straight.
In a statement on Thursday, Board Chairperson Frank Mbogo said over Sh50 million under the audit query was part of the revenue that was collected before he came into office.
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According to the Auditor-General report, out of Sh427 million collected by the Nairobi City County Alcoholic Drinks Control and Licensing Board (NCCADCLB) in the 2019/2020 financial year, Sh150 million could not be audited since the board did not furnish them with how they used the money.
Mr Mbogo now claims that Sh150 million under the audit query was part of the revenue collected before he came into office.
He has pledged to safeguard all revenue funds against misappropriation, pointing out that under his watch, 90 percent of the nightclubs in Nairobi city had so far complied with Governor Johnson Sakaja’s directive on noise pollution.
“I want to take this opportunity to thank Governor Sakaja for spearheading the initiative and bringing sanity back in residential areas,” Mr Mbogo said.
While appearing before the Nairobi County Assembly Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday to shed light on the missing money, Acting Director of the Liquor Board Hesbon Agwena asked for more time to avail all the documents detailing how they spent the money during the financial year under probe.
Also read: Nairobi Liquor Board questioned over missing Sh150 million
According to the Auditor-General, the office audited Sh275, 113,746 vouchers, which were well captured, representing 91 percent of the total expenditure.
However, PAC Committee, under its chairperson Chege Mwaura insisted that every coin that was spent must be accounted for.
The committee also noted from the Auditor report that the board paid a total of Sh96, 586,552 million in allowances without any documents indicating how the money was used.
The allowances were paid in terms of workshops (Sh55, 393,531), another workshop allowance of Sh2,667,760, a monthly allowance of Sh35,019,681, and a monthly sitting allowance of Sh3,505,580.
The board was asked to explain why there was no acknowledgment of the recipients for the funds and explain why huge sums were withdrawn.
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