The Milimani Anti-Corruption Court has convicted a driver employed by the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (NCWSC) of using a forged academic certificate to obtain his position, ordering him to pay KSh 7,542,673 in fines and compensation.
Anti-Corruption Court Senior Principal Magistrate Celesa Okore delivered the judgment Thursday, October 29, finding Kelly Gichuri Muiruri guilty on four counts; fraudulent acquisition of public property, uttering a false document, deceiving a principal, and presenting a forged certificate.
He was acquitted on a separate charge of forgery.
How the Fraud Was Uncovered
The court established that Muiruri submitted a Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) certificate showing a mean grade of C plain for the 2002 examination, when his actual result was a D plain.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) launched an investigation after receiving a tip-off that he had used falsified academic credentials to gain employment at NCWSC.
The EACC subsequently forwarded the case file to the Director of Public Prosecutions with a recommendation that charges be preferred.
Breakdown of Penalties Imposed
The court ordered Muiruri to refund KSh 6,742,673, representing salaries he received between November 2016 and December 2023. Failure to pay that sum would attract a four-year custodial sentence.
Beyond the compensation order, the court imposed fines totalling KSh 800,000 across the four counts.
These comprised KSh 300,000 for fraudulent acquisition of public property, KSh 200,000 for uttering a false document, KSh 200,000 for deceiving a principal, and KSh 100,000 for presenting a forged certificate.
Each fine carries a default prison term ranging from eight to twelve months, and the court directed that those default sentences run consecutively should Muiruri fail to pay.
The EACC used the conviction to issue a wider caution, urging employers to verify the academic and professional credentials of job applicants during recruitment as a measure to protect public resources and maintain integrity within public service.
