Nairobi Star (Nairobi)
Lola Okulo
23 December 2011
An anti insurance fraud police unit has officially started its operations to combat crimes associated with the industry.
The unit which has nine police officers at present will be increased to 20 by the end of December, Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere has said. “You will find sometimes like a motor vehicle which is a 14 seater once an accident has occurred you find 60 victims…all want to claim,” noted Iteere.
Insurance Regulatory Authority Chief Executive Sammy Makove said that the officers have been trained on insurance matters and will now partner with the authority to reduce losses to the industry through fraud. In addition to the 20 anti insurance fraud officers, 75 traffic police officers have been trained at the College of Insurance to improve investigations on motor vehicle accident claims.
Insurance is the latest industry in the financial services sector to have a police unit. Other special trained police are attached to the Central Bank of Kenya as the banking fraud investigation unit, the Capital Markets Authority and the Kenya Revenue Authority. Iteere noted that technology advancement has brought on new types of crime that have led to the formation of the special police units.
He revealed that the police department is mulling a new unit to combat cases of land and real estate property fraud which has cost losses to hundreds of investors. The new land fraud unit is scheduled to be operational in January 2012.
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