The High Court has blocked the payment of more than Sh6.2 billion to a group of companies linked to businessman Ben Gethi Wangui, dealing a major blow to claims arising from what investigators say were fictitious supply contracts at the National Youth Service (NYS).

In interim orders issued by Milimani Anti-Corruption Court Judge Lucy Njuguna, the firms and their representatives were barred from pursuing payment from NYS pending the hearing of a corruption case filed by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).

The court also restrained NYS officials from releasing any funds linked to thousands of disputed payment vouchers covering alleged supplies made between 2013 and 2016.

According to court documents, the EACC contends that the payment claims relate to goods that were never delivered to the youth agency. The commission argues that the transactions amounted to a coordinated scheme designed to siphon public funds through forged procurement records.

Among the firms affected are several associated with Gethi, alongside other entities whose directors and shareholders have been named in the suit. The claims relate to items such as food supplies, clothing, fuel, tools and equipment, which investigators say exist only on paper.

The court heard that suppliers submitted hundreds of Local Purchase Orders (LPOs), delivery notes and invoices demanding payment running into billions of shillings. However, EACC investigators say checks at NYS headquarters and its satellite stores found no evidence that the goods were ever received.

In filings before the court, the commission alleges that procurement and accounting documents were manipulated to create the impression of legitimate deliveries. It further claims that many of the LPOs and inspection forms attached to the payment vouchers were never printed by the Government Printer or officially issued to NYS.

Investigators also accuse some former NYS officials of abusing their offices by approving or signing procurement documents despite knowing that the supplies were fictitious. The alleged collusion, EACC says, enabled the processing of payment claims without any actual movement of goods.

The probe was triggered after the Ministry responsible for public service raised concerns over a surge of historical payment claims lodged against NYS, prompting a request for verification of their authenticity.

The EACC is seeking court declarations that the contracts and payment vouchers are illegal, alongside permanent orders barring NYS from settling the disputed claims.

The matter is set to proceed to an inter partes hearing, where the court will determine whether the freeze on the Sh6.2 billion claims should remain in force as the corruption case unfolds.