Court Orders HELB CEO Charles Ringera to Refund Sh491,000 to the Agency

The High Court has ordered Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) CEO Charles Ringera to refund Sh491,852 to the State agency.

This is after High Court judge Esther Maina granted the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) the powers to hold the heads of State agencies accountable for loss of public funds.

Ringera had filed a petition challenging a decision by EACC to hold him personally liable for the loss of the aforementioned amount.

EACC argued that Ringera abused his position in 2019 by ordering HELB's Chief Finance Officer Shem Gichimu to raise the salary of Chief Operations Officer (COO) Geoffrey Monari without the approval of the agency’s board.

"In March 2019, the CEO, HELB had irregularly approved the review of the basic salary of the then Chief Operations Officer, Monari from Sh218,719.13 to Sh253,923.13 where he directed Gichimu to effect the same in contravention of the Public Service Commission Human Resource Policies," EACC said.

"The Chief Finance Officer considered this as an improper order and contrary to section 36 of the Leadership and Integrity Act, 2012 and appropriately reported the same to the Commission.”

An investigation by EACC determined that Ringera's conduct to award incremental credits to Monari amounted to an abuse of office and a breach of public trust. EACC surcharged Ringera and ordered him to pay back the sum to HELB.

Aggrieved by this decision, Ringera moved to the High Court seeking to quash the decision by EACC arguing that EACC does not have such powers.

In her ruling, Justice Maina held that in protecting public property, the constitutional and statutory powers of EACC extend to securing compensation for the loss of public property from culpable public officers.

The judge further ruled that EACC was within the law, which gives it powers to institute as well as conduct civil proceedings for purposes of recovery of public property or confiscate proceeds of corruption.