Co-operatives and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Cabinet Secretary Wycliffe Oparanya says the Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (Sasra) will be given more supervisory powers to strengthen the Sacco movement in the country.

This follows revelations of Sh13.3 billion fraud at the country’s apex cooperative body, Kenya Union of Savings and Credit Cooperatives (Kuscco).

Yesterday, Mr Oparanya called for the immediate restructuring of Kuscco’s management for it to effectively execute its mandate.

“We intend to give Sasra more powers to carry out supervisory powers to ensure the cooperative movement is strengthened,” he said.

The CS, who spoke when he opened Kuscco’s 10th Sacco leaders’ convention in Mombasa said all individuals involved in the Sh13.3 billion embezzlement of members’ deposits will be prosecuted.

Mr Oparanya’s statement comes at a time when some of Kuscco’s top officials have already been taken to court over the scandal that has left the Saccos’ umbral body insolvent. It is facing insolvency to the tune of Sh12.5 billion due to fraud, with savings valued at Sh24.8 billion belonging to 247 Saccos at stake.

The CS said that last week he handed the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) forensic audit to Inspector-General of Police Douglas Kanja for an in-depth probe and prosecution of those culpable.

The PwC audit revealed that Kuscco’s cooked financial statements were signed by Alfred Basweti of Omenye and Associates, who is deceased. Among the issues unearthed by the audit included large-scale theft by executives, bribery, unexplained bank withdrawals and conflict of interest through the issuance of contracts to firms owned by top managers.

The top management masked the embezzlement scheme through the manipulation of financial statements to report non-existent profits.

Yesterday, four former officials of Kuscco officials were charged with stealing Sh82.8 million from the Sacco’s umbrella body between October 2022 and April 2023.