Kitui EACC impersonators return to court
5:08:2024: The case for five Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) staff imposters arrested on July 19, 2024, in Kitui, will be mentioned at the Kitui Law Courts on August 12, 2024.
Sheddy Kakai, Permelus Kasama, Joseph Musembi, David Bembe, and Police Corporal Anne Mutheu were arrested by police officers from Kitui Police Station after Roselyn Munyasya, the Kitui County Director of Revenue reported that people purporting to be officers from the EACC were making inquiries on alleged embezzlement of funds in the County Government.
They were arrested while carrying out a search at the offices of the County Director of Revenue. Upon interrogation, they claimed to be officers from the EACC Nairobi office on official duty. They produced a search warrant purportedly from Milimani Law Courts and job cards named William Kirui Rono, Meshack K. Matina, and Mary Nzilani Mwaniki, allegedly designated Chief Executive Officers and Directors of Anti-corruption intelligence.
The five were produced in court on July 22, 2024, where the Director of County Criminal Investigations Officer was granted leave by the High Court to hold them in custody without bond for seven days to investigate their identities as they had produced conflicting details on the same.
They were arraigned on July 30, 2024, and charged with conspiracy to commit a felony, several counts of impersonating EACC investigators, conspiracy to commit a felony, abducting with intent to confine, forgery, uttering a false document, attempts to extort by threats, being in possession of suspected stolen property, and operating a private security organization without a valid license.
The Court heard, among other accusations, that on June 19, 2024, at around 11:00 a.m., at the Kitui County Revenue offices, the five conspired, jointly and with common intention, to impersonate EACC investigators.
The Court was also told that on the same date, Joseph Musembi alias Meshack Matina, Permenas Kasamba alias Christopher Okero, Ann Mutheu Ngovo alias Mary Nzilani Mwaniki, and David Bembe alias William Kirui Rono falsely represented themselves to the County Director of Revenue as Chief Executive Officers and Directors Anti-Corruption Intelligence investigating her of a corruption case.
They were also accused of jointly and with common intention on the same date, conspiring to abduct and confine, and abducting with intent to confine Roselyn Kavata Munyasya. That on an unknown date and place, they made a search warrant purporting to be a genuine document issued by the Chief Magistrate Milimani Law Courts on July 17, 2024, which, with intent to extort, they fraudulently uttered to Ms. Munyasya.
The court requested a pre-bail report against each accused before their admission to bail. The matter will be mentioned on August 12, 2024.
