For the past three years, the Standard Group is akin to a crime scene over what is illegally happening there.
This is because of a cabal that is out to render many staff to Siberia for their selfish interest in the name of fighting laziness and making money. In essence, theirs is selfishness as the company sinks to losses. The management never remits money to Saccos or pension schemes which has rendered them useless and hopeless yet money is deducted.
The cabal is led by CEO Orlando Lyomu and backed by Millicent Ngetich, Nicholas Siwatom, Ochieng Rapuro, Sam Koskei and Benedict Omollo.
It has set aside millions of shillings that for instance, Koskei is using to bribe mobile phone companies staff illegally to get Mpesa statements of targeted staff. SG has also been obtaining bank statements of targeted individuals illegally.
If for instance, they find out one sent or received Sh50,000 they brand you corrupt.
“They want to see people wear sacks to the office and walk to the office and not drive. Sadists!” remarked one staff member who is targeted for buying a demio on loan.
This is how the cartel works. Since Orlando took over as the CEO he has been running the company with vengeance. He is targeting people perceived to be pro so and so.
For instance, they brand some staff thereof being pro-Joshua Kulei who is also a shareholder of the publicly listed company.
Those seen to be belonging to Kulei have suffered.
They also brand some staff of being pro-Deputy President William Ruto before pushing them out.
This is the narrative they take to the board and later to majority shareholder Gideon Moi.
“They claim so and so is a Ruto mole and go with it to the board and later to Gideon to get the green light for sacking. This is for their selfish interest.”
As a journalist, you can even talk to satan or a terrorist. They need to put it in writing that the media group staff are not supposed to be associated with Ruto or his allies,” said one member affected by the illegal branding.
One staff under siege now is Jacob Ngetich who is being targeted by Rapuro for no reason. It is because of his name and perception. Many others will be named here soon.
The cartel has in the past two years sacked over 30 staff members in a bloodletting spree. Many feel Orlando and some members of the board are on a revenge mission. Orlando rose from being the head of finance and took over from Sam Shollei and has since then led the company to huge losses.
The man they use in their mission is Koskei to first spy on the targeted staff and later create a fake narrative which is presented to a kangaroo team to justify the sacking.
For instance, Koskei has a budget that he uses to hire hackers to snoop into laptops and desktops of the company. They have planted spyware on the company machines that enable them to snoop on any target’s work, which many feel is criminal and making the place a crime scene.
If one makes a mistake of using company wifi his or her mobile phone is swept through for information including pornography they receive.
One female member who was notorious for receiving and watching porn was last week shocked when a member of the cabal asked her why she likes such stuff.
Koskei has been running through the company machines being used by targeted members of staff looking for evidence of conflict of interest. Company emails are not safe at all. They go through the same to see if one uses it for personal issues.
This is one of the issues they are using in the case of deputy sports editor Robin Toskin who they have targeted for sacking. They illegally accessed his emails and Mpesa statements to claim he is compromised. He denies the claims and says he is being targeted for his stand on football matters.
The head of legal Millicent Ngetich is clueless as she cant advise the management on the implications of the illegal activities there.
The head of operations Benedict Omollo is also another criminal. He was picked from the Judiciary where he had in 2013 been charged with conspiracy to steal Sh80 million from the institution through payments to phantom companies. He was charged with conspiracy to steal Sh80 million from the institution through payments to phantom companies.
The charge stated that he jointly conspired with others already in court to defraud the Judiciary.
They were released on cash bails of Sh2 million each. It is not clear how and why he was hired by the company despite his charges. But officials say it is Shollei who did it since he was charged alongside his ex-wife Gladys Boss Shollei.
Orlando hired Rapuro from Nation for a mission. He wanted to target those he saw as pro-Kulei group. They include the head of news at the media house Kipkoech Tanui who has gone under fearing being hit.
However, although Tanui is a close ally of Gideon and has survived many purges in the past ten years as he had personal contact with late President Daniel Moi, it is now clear if Gideon will protect him anymore if he buys the propaganda that he is a Kulei man.
And since Rapuro arrived with the help of a director there who is the former head of Kenya Wildlife Service Julius Kipngetich, they have targeted more than 30 members of staff who were key in many areas and pushed them out. And they are still on with their mission.
Some of the officials there have been buying property which they can’t explain. For instance, two officials bought houses in Redhill area worth Sh50 million each in a move that shocked many.
“They accuse staff of being corrupt but when you look at their lifestyle they can’t justify the property they have acquired.”
Those in charge have been occasioning fake renovations to make money from the company. They also recently bought and launched two radio stations and two tv stations which are running in losses. The amount used in acquiring the frequencies was exaggerated and shared among some staff there.
They also relaunched the convergence desk, which was launched last year. This is meant to squander company money. The desk is yet to be felt on the ground for lack of staff and content.
The most shocking thing is that they lie to the country they are in business when they are enriching themselves.
