In its Petroleum Development Levy Fund audit for the full year ending June 30, 2022, the office said it could not ascertain how Sh23.57 billion was spent.

While statements of receipts and payments of Sh23.57 billion were transferred to other Government entities, balances of Sh220 million and Sh200 million were transferred to the National Oil Corporation of Kenya (NOCK) and the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), respectively.

“However, the budget, the work plans and cost statements for oil and gas exploration activities, oil exploration and monitoring reports to support the transfers were not provided for audit,” the Auditor said.

“In addition, no documentation including the framework agreement for the transfer was provided in support of this expenditure.”

It also said that a total of Sh23.15 billion from the fund was wired to the Ministry of Petroleum and Mining without any supporting evidence for audit verification.

According to Section 4(4) of the Petroleum Development Act, 1991, the auditor wrote, ‘there shall be paid out of the Fund such monies as necessary for development of common facilities for distribution or leasing of oil products and for matters relating to development of oil industry as the Minister may direct’.

“Further, the Petroleum Development Levy Order No. 124 issued on 10 July, 2020 provided that the levy should be used for matters relating to development of the oil industry inclrding stabilization of local petroleum pump prices.”