Court detains suspects held over birth certificate syndicate

30 suspects arrested in connection with corruption in issuance of birth and death certificates at the Civil Registration Services in Nairobi will remain in custody until Wednesday.

This is pending a determination by the court on whether to have them detained for 10 more days to allow police to conclude investigations.

Kiambu Chief Magistrate Patricia Gichohi ordered the suspects to be detained at Gigiri, Kileleshwa and Muthangari police stations.

The suspects who spent the weekend in custody, however, did not take plea as the prosecution said the police needed ten more days to conclude investigations.

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In a miscellaneous application, the prosecution said the investigations are complex and the suspects are linked to others who are still being pursued by detectives.

The development comes as some of the suspects mainly employees of the civil registration service are believed to have received interdiction letters

Meanwhile, former Kasarani Member of Parliament Elizabeth Ongoro alongside three other suspects including former Kasarani Constituency Development Fund officials have been charged with embezzling Ksh48Million from the kitty said to have been allocated for the construction of Kasarani Girls High School.

According to the charge sheet the suspects fraudulently acquired public property, engaged in a project without prior planning, dealt with suspect property, willfully failed to comply with the law relating to procurement and abused office.

They denied the charges and the prosecution did not oppose bail but asked the court to issue stringent bond terms to the accused.

Anti-Corruption Senior Principal Magistrate Lawrence Mugambi granted them Ksh3 million cash bail each or an alternative bond of 6 million shillings each with one surety.

They were also ordered to deposit their travel documents with the court.

Finally,  six officers who were manning Ivumbuni Primary School KCPE examination center in Machakos County have been released on a 100,000 shillings cash bail each after pleading not guilty to charges of examination irregularities.

The six who include the examination center manager Joash Munyao, supervisor Sharon Kamene and invigilators Elizabeth Nduku, Fredrick Makau, Catherine Nyamai and Caroline Mwangi appeared before Machakos Senior Resident Magistrate Brenda Bartoo.

The suspects are accused of failing to seal the examination polythene bag containing Social Studies answer scripts after the end of the said examination as required.