Treasury Official Ordered to Refund Sh67 Million Illegal Salary

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has secured a landmark judgment resulting in the recovery of over Ksh 67 million fraudulently paid as unauthorised allowances to Faith Jematia Kiptis, an officer at the National Treasury and Planning.

In a judgment delivered on 15th July 2025 by Justice Musyoki of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Division of the High Court in Nairobi, the court found that Ms. Kiptis had illegally and irregularly received public funds disguised as taskforce, extraneous, entertainment, facilitation, and other unspecified allowances.

The court ordered that Ms. Faith Kiptis refund Ksh67,664,975, with Ksh2,443,667.92 forfeited from her Equity Bank account and Ksh6,320,419.80 from her KCB Bank account, payment of interest at court rates until full recovery.

She will also be required to pay the costs of the suit in favour of the EACC.

The judgment follows investigations by the Commission, which were initiated upon receipt of reports alleging embezzlement of public funds by the employee.

Upon conclusion of the investigations, the Commission filed a plaint dated 18th January 2023.

EACC investigations established that between January 2020 and June 2022, Faith Jematia Kiptis received allowances contrary to government policy. These included multiple and overlapping committee and taskforce payments; payments made without the requisite approval from the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC); allowances not applicable to her job group; and payments not provided for in government procedure manuals and circulars. The investigations also uncovered the disbursement of undefined and duplicated allowances that were neither recognized nor specified in any formal guidelines.

During the trial, the Commission presented evidence demonstrating that the allowances were unauthorised and in direct violation of SRC circulars—particularly the binding advisory dated 16th December 2015, and a subsequent circular issued on 22nd April 2021, both of which expressly rejected the payment of such allowances.

The court reaffirmed that SRC’s advice on public officers’ remuneration is binding under Article 230 of the Constitution and held that Ms. Kiptis knowingly participated in the fraudulent scheme, unjustly enriching herself at the expense of the public.

The Court further noted that the National Treasury ought to have awaited the advice of the SRC before effecting any such payments.

“This judgment underscores the Commission’s mandate to recover assets acquired through corruption and to uphold the integrity of public financial management and the protection of public property in Kenya” the commission noted.

The judgment is one of several successful recoveries by the Commission involving funds embezzled from the National Treasury between February 2020 and June 2022. The embezzled amounts had been disguised as extraneous, facilitation, taskforce/committee, and other undefined allowances.

To date, the Commission has recovered a total of Ksh174,092,175 in unlawfully and irregularly paid allowances to officials of the National Treasury, through both Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms and court processes.