Nairobi, Jan. 16 -- At least 384 employees at Kenya Power forged payslips to secure loans, a new audit has revealed, exposing weaknesses in the utility's human resource systems.

The fraud was uncovered through an internal audit, the findings of which have now been published by Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu.

The audit shows that the scheme left 361 employees with payslips reflecting deductions of more than two-thirds of their salaries, breaching labour laws and highlighting gaps in payroll controls.

"An internal investigation during the year on alleged use of forged documents by employees to obtain loans from financial institutions revealed that 384 employees acquired loans using forged payslips and Human Resource (HR) approval letters...