A warrant of arrest is out for a Ministry of Interior official accused of conspiring with others to fraudulently issue a national identity card to an applicant who was using stolen documents.
The warrant against Joseph Mwangangi Njiru was issued by Makadara Chief Magistrate Tito Gesora after he failed to appear in court on the second day, where he was to be charged.
Njiru works as a senior clerical officer at the National Registration Bureau (NRB) – Registrar of Persons’ offices at the Mathare Sub County headquarters in Nairobi.
He is facing a charge of conspiracy to commit a felony contrary to section 393 of the Penal Code where he is accused of colluding with others including Mohamed Alemayo.
Njiru was to be jointly charged with committing the offence jointly with Alemayo who was issued the ID, and other accomplices – on diverse dates in February and March this year.
Alemayo,21, who hails from Moyale in Marasambit County was the ID’s applicant issued with the document identifying him as Samuel Kinyua Kimani from Muranga County.
Alemayo had submitted an ID belonging to a woman who is a resident of Murang’a County to register to support his application for his ID and Njiru allegedly processed the same for him.
However, officers at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI’s) Immigration and Citizen Services Investigations Unit at the DCI headquarters flagged the fraudulent ID and started investigations.
They contacted their counterparts at the NRB offices and a joint investigation exercise was carried out where Alemayo and Njiru were arrested.
DCI investigations established that Alemayo is a member of Burnji community in Moyale and not a Kikuyu as he had claimed.
Alemayo is separately charged with procuring registration by false pretenses contrary to section 320 of the Penal Code.
He is accused of willfully and unlawfully registering for national ID at the NRB offices in Mathare, Nairobi, purporting to be Samuel Kinyua Kimani on February 22 this year.
The suspect is accused of committing the offence in conjunction with others at large.
The woman who lost her ID before it was used by Alemayo to seek registration identifying himself as her son was traced. She is listed as a witness in the case.
Alemayo denied the charges before Gesora, he was released on a bond of Sh50,000 with one surety of a similar amount and an alternative cash bail of Sh40,000.
The case will be mentioned on February 14, 2023, before the hearing starts on June 27, 2024.
The ID issued to Alemayo is listed as an exhibit in the case.
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