How Treasury Officials Siphoned Ksh 1.55 Billion from PROFIT Programme

The money was supposed to go to poor farmers in Kenya's driest counties, but it never reached them, and the reason is not that the programme failed or that the donor pulled out, but that a group of Treasury officials decided to steal it.

The PROFIT Programme was designed to help smallholder farmers, pastoralists, and rural women who had never held a formal bank account, but instead of serving its intended purpose, it became a cash cow for a group of officials who kept its bank account alive long after the programme had officially died.

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission has now exposed how senior National Treasury officials allegedly stole Ksh 1.55 billion from a programme that closed in 2019, using forged documents, fake vouchers, and a single signature to authorise payments from an account that should have been shut down years ago.

The scheme was not sophisticated, but it was effective, because it exploited a gap in the Treasury's internal controls that allowed a handful of officials to siphon millions from a project that no longer had any staff, any offices, or any legitimate reason to exist.

The Programme for Rural Outreach of Financial Innovations and Technologies, known as PROFIT, was jointly financed by the Kenyan government and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a United Nations agency that pooled more than $30.8 million over nearly a decade.

IFAD's supervision missions documented that the programme reached hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries across the country's driest and most economically vulnerable counties.

On 31 December 2019, PROFIT was officially closed, its mandate declared fulfilled, its donor funding completely exhausted, and by every administrative standard, the programme ceased to exist.

But its bank account did not.

The Scheme: How a Dead Programme Kept Moving Money

According to court documents filed by the EACC, senior National Treasury officials kept the PROFIT operations account at Co-operative Bank of Kenya alive years after the programme's official closure.

They used it as a conduit to siphon out a sum the Commission places at Ksh 1,554,455,284.35, north of Ksh 1.55 billion, disbursed by the Treasury itself in the name of a project that no longer had a mandate, and invoking the authority of a donor that had long since walked away.

The mechanism, as laid out in EACC's filings, exploited a gap that should never have survived basic internal audit.

Genuine PROFIT payment vouchers required two layers of sign-off: certification by a holder of Authority to Incur Expenditure, followed by an accounting officer's approval.

The vouchers EACC says were used to move the money skipped the first layer entirely, relying on a single signature to authorise disbursements from a programme with no staff, no offices and no ongoing activity.

EACC investigators say the vouchers continued to cite IFAD by name, as though the donor were still actively requesting disbursements, years after IFAD's involvement had ended.

At the centre of the scheme, EACC's court papers name Billy Otieno Obango, PROFIT's former accountant, and Gladys Juliet Chepkarat, described in the filings as his collaborator.

The Commission says that Obango personally withdrew Sh799.84 million in cash from the PROFIT account, a figure that exposes the complete failure of the banking system and the Treasury's internal controls.

In a system where a single transaction above Ksh 1 million is meant to trigger reporting obligations, the fact that nearly Ksh 800 million was withdrawn in cash without detection speaks to either gross incompetence or deliberate complicity.

When the Co-operative Bank account's capacity appeared to run short, the scheme escalated.

In October 2022, nearly three years after PROFIT's official closure, Obango and Chepkarat are accused of opening an entirely new account at KCB Bank Kenya, in the PROFIT programme's name, using forged documents.

About Ksh 175.3 million was subsequently channelled into that account, of which Ksh 157.8 million moved out via cheques backed by fabricated paperwork.

In early 2023, a further Ksh 206 million in what EACC describes as residual PROFIT funds was transferred from the Co-operative Bank account into an account belonging to a separate, still-active IFAD-backed initiative, the Rural Kenya Financial Inclusion Facility (RK-FINFA), held at Housing Finance Bank.

Whether that transfer represented an attempt to move the money through a legitimate programme's books, or something more innocuous, is described in the filings as part of the ongoing investigation and has not been determined by any court.

Arrests and Charges

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission confirmed that nine suspects were arrested on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, in connection with the said embezzlement and fraudulent disbursement of Ksh 1,569,582,338.20 under the PROFIT Programme.

EACC CEO Abdi Mohamud confirmed the arrests and made it clear that the Commission would not allow the theft of public resources to go unpunished.

"The EACC remains committed to protecting public resources and ensuring persons responsible for loss or misappropriation are held accountable," Mohamud said.

"The Commission has conducted investigations into the irregular use of the PROFIT project account, which was officially closed in 2019. Nine suspects have been arrested and will be arraigned in court on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, to face charges including illegal acquisition of public property, abuse of office, and money laundering."

EACC said the money was diverted to private entities for goods and services that were never supplied or rendered.

Programme officials used false and forged documents to account for the funds and opened an unauthorised bank account in the name of the PROFIT Programme.

According to EACC, Ksh 175 million was deposited into the unauthorised account and subsequently laundered and embezzled, with a substantial portion of the money withdrawn in cash.

"EACC investigations established that Ksh 1.569 billion was fraudulently disbursed from the National Treasury Development Account to the PROFIT Programme and subsequently channeled to 23 private entities, 15 business names and eight companies, for goods and services that were never supplied or rendered," the commission said in a statement.

Key Figures in the Scheme

EACC's filings do not stop at the two principal actors.

Named as co-respondents or persons of interest are a roster of Treasury officials, including John Maina Muriithi and Nemwel Moturi Mutonya, both senior accountants; Lilian Wanjiku Dishon, senior deputy accountant general; George Kihara, head of the Treasury's accounting unit; and Susan Warukira, a principal accountant, alongside John Ngure Kabutha and Sylvia Awino Obango.

Among those arrested are PROFIT Programme Coordinator John Ngure Kabutha, National Treasury Head of Accounting Unit Namwel Moturi Motanya and Senior Accountant John Maina Muriithi, as well as business owners and company directors including Gladys Juliet Oroni, Brian Kiprop Chepkarat, Ian Kwemoi Chepkarat, Josephat Kamau Kamoshe, James Omwodo Ndai and Jimmy Carter Odoyo Osodo.

EACC has also directed 11 additional suspects to present themselves at the EACC Integrity Centre in Nairobi or the nearest EACC office for processing, including PROFIT Programme Accountant Billy Otieno Obango, Auma Ritah Otieno, Paul Mukasiali Shilaho, Susan Wangari Gathiaka, Erick Otieno Achila, Miriam Roseline Obinda, Fredrick Nyadhe Obindah, Brown Mujenyi Agade, Hilda Ndinda Ngava, Charles Cheruiyot and Jackline Kagai Saisi.

These officials held positions of immense responsibility and trust.

They were supposed to be the guardians of public funds.

Instead, they became architects of one of the most brazen thefts in recent Kenyan history.

The Kamau Thugge Connection

One name in the transaction trail carries particular political weight, and that name belongs to Kamau Thugge, a man who would later ascend to the position of Central Bank Governor, yet whose signature appears on documents that would become central to one of the most brazen thefts of public funds in recent Kenyan history.

Court records show that on 8 December 2016, three years before PROFIT closed its doors and long before the fraud is said to have begun, Thugge, then serving as National Treasury Principal Secretary, personally introduced Billy Otieno Obango, Gladys Juliet Chepkarat, and John Maina Muriithi as additional signatories to the PROFIT account, a routine administrative act that would later prove to be the foundation upon which a billion-shilling scheme was built.

Thugge went on to become Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya, yet his name now sits permanently in the paper trail of an account that investigators say became the instrument of a massive theft.

The signatory addition was presented as a routine administrative act at a time when the programme was still operational, but the devastating consequences of that act are now undeniable, because the very individuals Thugge introduced to the account would go on to orchestrate the theft of Ksh 1.55 billion, and the banks, the Treasury, and the internal audit mechanisms all failed to notice or stop the bleeding for years.

The Central Bank Governor, who should have been the guardian of the country's financial integrity, bears responsibility for the culture of impunity that allowed such a scheme to flourish unchecked.

The Asset Trail: Hotel, Apartments, and Houses

EACC's asset-recovery filings sketch a property portfolio the Commission says was built almost entirely from the diverted proceeds.

The assets include a four-storey hotel in Eldoret's town centre; two apartments in the Stoni Athi Phase I development in Athi River; a flat in Stoni Athi purchased from the National Housing Corporation for Ksh 8.85 million; four housing units in Kamulu's Avana Garden Estate worth roughly Ksh 18.1 million; and, through a company the Commission describes as a proxy vehicle whose directors are Chepkarat's children, three houses in Eldoret's Racecourse area, bought with Ksh 104.8 million EACC says is traceable to the scheme.

A second company, Jarods Agency Limited, is said to have received a further Ksh 40.1 million from the PROFIT accounts after the programme's official closure.

These are not mere allegations.

These are documented transactions that have been traced by EACC investigators.

The Commission has already frozen these assets pending the outcome of the case.

"In addition to the criminal proceedings, the Commission will pursue the recovery and forfeiture of public funds and assets established to have been acquired through corrupt conduct or other unlawful means," EACC said in its statement.

The Donor's Response and International Implications

IFAD confirmed in June 2026 that it has opened its own internal audit into the programme.

The forfeiture suit will continue to be heard in the High Court, with the frozen assets remaining out of reach of the respondents until a judge determines the matter.

"IFAD takes allegations of misuse of its funds very seriously," the agency stated in a communication.

"We are conducting our own internal audit to establish the facts and will cooperate fully with Kenyan authorities in their investigation."

The involvement of a United Nations agency adds an international dimension to the scandal.

IFAD's funding was intended to support some of Kenya's most vulnerable communities.

The diversion of those funds represents not only a theft from the Kenyan people but also a betrayal of the trust placed in the programme by the international community.

What Happens Next

The nine suspects are expected to be arraigned before the Milimani Law Courts on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, where they will face multiple charges, including unlawful acquisition of public property, abuse of office, money laundering, acquisition of proceeds of crime and uttering false documents.

The latest arrests widen the scope of the investigation beyond National Treasury officials to private businesses used to receive funds from the programme.

The fraud touches a programme designed to improve financial access for small-scale farmers, and questions are now being asked about the extent to which funds intended to support vulnerable rural communities were diverted during the programme's decade-long implementation.

EACC has confirmed that investigations are ongoing and that more arrests may follow as the Commission continues to trace the flow of funds and identify all those involved in the scheme.

"The EACC remains committed to protecting public resources and ensuring persons responsible for loss or misappropriation are held accountable," Mohamud said.

The Bigger Picture

The PROFIT scandal is yet another example of the systemic weaknesses that have allowed corruption to flourish in Kenya's public institutions.

A programme that had been closed for years continued to have its account active, with funds flowing out of it without detection.

This speaks to a complete failure of oversight at multiple levels of government.

Treasury, the banks, and the internal audit mechanisms all appear to have failed to detect or stop the theft.

Questions are now being asked about how many other closed government programmes might have similar accounts still active, and whether the Treasury has any mechanisms in place to prevent such schemes from recurring.

The case has also reignited debate about the effectiveness of EACC and whether it has the resources and political backing to pursue corruption cases to their conclusion.

The PROFIT scandal is a reminder that corruption in Kenya is not always about grand, complex schemes.