Notorious George Magutu has been ousted severally together with his accomplices and always rig their way back through piky piky ponky bribery art. He pulls the strings despited being just a mere board member of Newfortis sacco. But not out of the moon did he accumulate such powers, he is the chairman of The Kenya Union of Savings & Credit Co-operatives Ltd (KUSCCO) which is mandated with advocating issues affecting growth and development of SACCO’s in Kenya as SASRA (SACCO Societies Regulatory Authority) is the government’s principal agency responsible for the supervision and regulation of SACCO Societies in Kenya.
Therefore, SASRA’s mandate is to regulate, supervise and develop the SACCO industry through promotion of prudent practices to protect member’s interests, enhance access to financial services and foster financial stability.
So Magutu being Chairman of KUSCCO, a member of Newfortis, what else can go wrong in his looting spree? SASRA, of which his two accomplices in the Newfortis Sacco bribe the officials to keep maim as they loot. His two other accomplices are Newfortis sacco chairman Mr. George Githinji and Secretary John Mathinji who is also the Nyeri county Education CEC.
The Synopsis as reported by the whistleblower in documents seen
“In 2020, the Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority (UFAA) was to do an audit of unclaimed assets at Newfortis, the staff were directed to hide the unclaimed funds, which was estimated to be worth hundreds of millions at the time.
By the time UFAA came, only Sh800k was left as unclaimed assets. The staff at new Fortis had been made to appear like those people whose funds were owed communicated / instructed NewFortis to release the funds.
The forgery was so high that it also involved forging accounts statements through the core banking test environment. Some staff whistle blew this by writing a letter to SASRA and UFAA about this.
The chairman Mr John Githinji is a billionaire flaunting wealth in Nyeri, and so is the CEO, Mr John Githinji and the treasurer Mr George Magutu, from KUSCCO. The scandal at KUSCCO is merely a drop in the ocean compared to what the trio has done in NewFortis. Right now they are moving up and down with bags of cash trying to bribe officials at UFAA and SASRA and threatening anyone who refuses to take their bribe.
Some two guys at UFAA that had refused to play ball have lost their jobs. George Magutu is like their don. They have employed their relatives at NewFortis.
Their reach is powerful. For example, the honorary secretary of NewFortis is the CEC Education, Nyeri county so they are in good graces with the governor, Mr Kahiga, they even funded his campaigns, and if i’m right you cannot be a CEC and still be a member of board.
NewFortis Sacco members don’t have faith on the Chairman and have always voted him out but he rigs himself in all the time. Everyone lives in fear of him and the treasurer and the CEO. All those who helped him forge unclaimed assets receipts were all fired and their names tarnished to make them not speak up. Some board members tried to remove the big three fraudulent executive board members but were unsuccessful , some died due to depression.
I’m telling you whatever George Magutu did at KUSCCO is a drop in the ocean. He has been treasurer of NewFortis longer than he has been in the board of KUSCCO.
Mr. Magutu, Githinji and Mathinji are murderous thieves. They threaten everybody even using close family members. They can put fake charges on one to spend time in prison.
They bought land and fraudulently and forced staff to buy them at inflated prices (three times the price). They allocated themselves huge chunks of the land and are also involved in mock projects like upgrading their T24 system, which they have fraudulently paid for three times through different consultants; mostly PKL consultants.
Monies meant for Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority (UFAA) was looted in a period of one week. Hundreds of millions vanished into thin air.
SASRA tied to do a second audit and nothing was adding up. Politicians are also bribed to keep silent. I swear they shall unearth a mega scandal bigger than KUSCCO, If audit is carried out and the truth is not hidden.
This is why the CEO has refused to retire despite being past retirement age. Chairman has to rig elections together with the treasurer.
Sometimes the account goes negative Sh3 million, then the next day it regularizes, following Chairman’s overdrawal.”
KUSCCO PREVIOUS SCANDALS UNDER WATCH OF MAGUTO
How CBK exposed the multi-billion fraud.
Last year 2023, a concern raised by CBK regarding the regulation of KUSCCO’s deposit-taking business, following a complaint by a concerned SACCO leader, initiated a multi-billion fraud investigation against KUSCCO.
On March 22, 2022, the former Governor of CBK, Dr. Patrick Njoroge, wrote to the SASRA CEO and the then PS Cooperatives, alerting them to the magnitude of the risk posed by KUSCCO’s continued deposit-taking business from regulated and unregulated SACCOs.
In the letter, Dr. Njoroge expressed concerns about how an entity holding close to Ksh 20 billion from SACCOs was not under the regulator’s purview.
The Governor, directed SASRA to conduct a review and establish the necessary regulatory framework for KUSCCO’s deposit-taking business.
CEO of KUSCCO, Mr.George Ototo, vehemently opposed the regulation of KUSCCO’s deposit-taking despite the obvious risks.
As a follow-up to Dr. Nioroge’s letter, the administration, through the CS of Cooperatives and MSMEs, Mr. Simon Chelugui, directed SASRA to conduct an inspection of KUSCCO and report on whether the continued deposit-taking business is legal and if any offenses have been committed.
They were also instructed to apply the necessary mechanisms to regulate the business.
After a one-month review, the preliminary findings of SASRA were both shocking and worrying for the sector.
There were glaring discrepancies between the deposits collected from SACCOs, the loans advanced, and the available funds.
About Ksh 8 billion couldn’t be accounted for.
Major SACCOs have deposits in KUSCCO, with some SACCOs having over Ksh 900 million placed in KUSCCO.
This caused panic in the sector, with several CEOs and boards siding with KUSCCO and opposing the investigations.
However, it is worth noting that the members’ funds are at risk if the forensic audit or investigations are not completed to establish the whereabouts of Ksh 8 billion.
Once KUSCCO learned that the preliminary report incriminated some of their activities and actions, they rushed to court and obtained restraining orders against SASRA.
We have seen downfall of major Saccos in Kenya, audit reports, the massive lootings by the officials and this is no better. Members of the newfortis sacco should run as they legs can carry them. Withdraw membership. Thats the best option as the trio will definitely find their way out of the justice system should they be prosecuted and still comeback to reclaim their positions. They’ve looted more than enough to bribe every bigwig concerned.
KenyanHour 