Safaricom, East Africa’s largest telecom operator, dismissed 118 employees for fraud-related offenses in the financial year ended March 2026, up from 113 a year earlier, as Kenya’s largest telecommunications operator intensified its response to internal misconduct. Referrals to law enforcement agencies doubled to 14 from seven, according to the company’s 2026 Sustainable Business Report.

Fraud remained the most frequently reported concern through Safaricom’s independently managed, anonymous ethics hotline. The company also issued three disciplinary warnings during the year, compared with none in the previous financial year, pointing to a broader range of disciplinary action as it investigated employee conduct.

Inside Safaricom’s fraud crackdown

Safaricom identifies suspected fraud through customer complaints and its internal fraud management system, which conducts annual reviews of key business processes. Once a case is flagged, a manager or the Ethics and Compliance team investigates and determines whether it can be resolved informally or requires formal disciplinary proceedings.

Investigation records are kept in password-protected files accessible only to the Ethics and Compliance team. When an inquiry concludes, the documentation goes to Human Resources, where a disciplinary committee applies the company’s Disciplinary Policy and Procedure to determine the appropriate action.

Grounds for dismissal include theft, falsifying records, unauthorized access to customer call data, security breaches and criminal offenses. The 118 dismissals reported for fiscal 2026 exceeded the previous year’s total, while the increase in law enforcement referrals points to more cases being escalated beyond the company’s internal disciplinary process.

Digital finance raises compliance stakes

Safaricom linked its growing financial crime controls to the expanding scale and complexity of its digital financial services, particularly M-PESA, Kenya’s dominant mobile money platform. During the financial year, the company revised its anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism policy to strengthen safeguards as its digital operations expanded.

The company also reconstituted five board committees, including the Board Risk and ESG Committee, with revised mandates taking effect Aug. 1, 2025. It introduced a Governance Framework on Policies to formalize how internal rules are developed and maintained, reinforcing oversight as its telecommunications and financial services businesses grow.

Employee participation in the annual ethics awareness program held steady at 98% in fiscal 2026, matching the previous year. Safaricom also extended compliance training to 141 suppliers, 339 dealers and 972 M-PESA agents, while the number of awareness broadcasts sent to all M-PESA agents increased to 37 from 11.

Fraud losses remain a challenge

Despite the disciplinary measures, Safaricom reported an 82% reduction in fraud incidents, falling short of its 90% target. The company recovered 46% of reported fraud losses, underscoring the continuing challenge of preventing misconduct and recovering money after fraudulent activity has occurred.

Separately, Safaricom recovered Ksh 953 million ($7.3 million), linked to inflated agent commissions through monitoring and data analytics. The amount was down from Ksh 1.7 billion ($$13 million), recovered in the previous financial year, showing that recoveries declined even as the company continued tightening controls.

The company also monitored approximately 1.25 billion cyber intrusion attempts and investigated more than 130,000 security events during the year. The figures highlight the scale of the digital security workload facing an operator whose services support millions of telecommunications and mobile money transactions.

M-PESA at the center

Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Nairobi, Safaricom operates across mobile voice and data, fixed connectivity, fiber broadband, cloud services and financial technology. M-PESA remains central to its business, making the integrity of its financial systems and agent network a key concern for management, regulators and customers.

The latest report puts internal accountability alongside the company’s broader efforts to combat cyber threats and financial crime. With dismissals increasing and law enforcement referrals doubling, Safaricom faces the challenge of turning stronger oversight, staff training and data-led monitoring into sustained reductions in fraud and financial losses.