The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) is investigating the sale of military uniforms to members of the public.
Rogue servicemen reportedly pocketed Sh500,000 between January last year and July 2021 from the sales, KDF said in a court petition on Wednesday.
Corporal Collins Alulu of the military police told a Kibera court that several officers are suspected of selling the clothing to civilians and sharing their earnings among themselves through M-Pesa.
As part of the inquiry, the special investigations unit of the military police has obtained court orders to scrutinise two accounts held at Co-operative Bank.
The accounts are suspected to have been used to pay the items listed as government stores. The suspects’ phone numbers are also under scrutiny.
“Investigations have shown that during the period under inquiry, the holders of the mobile phone numbers who are service personnel connived to steal government stores under their care and sold them to civilians for personal use,” the military says in court papers.
Government stores are items whose use is limited to members of the disciplined services and they include uniforms, handcuffs and coats of arms.
Investigators want access to the bank accounts “to effectively and conclusively investigate the complaint”.
The orders were granted by Principal Magistrate Sharon Maroro.
The investigation began after a complaint was made to the Ministry of Defence over the illegal sales.
“The purpose of the investigation is to establish the veracity of the allegations with a view to taking appropriate disciplinary actions against service members found culpable,” military police said in the court papers.
The military did not specify the type and number of uniforms that were sold. BY DAILY NATION
