Former anti-corruption agency staff fined Sh800,000 for seeking bribe

Economy

Tuesday, January 8, 2019 21:38

By GALGALLO FAYO

Two former Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission employees were Tuesday sentenced to one year in jail or total fines of Sh800,000 for seeking a bribe, a breach the court said exposed the commission to public ridicule and contempt.

The court found Felix Mutinda and Fredrick Omanya guilty of soliciting a Sh180,000 bribe from Judith Omuonyi to ensure her company was not disqualified from the list of firms pre-qualified as suppliers at the anti-graft agency.

Senior principal magistrate Felix Kombo offered Mr Mutinda an option of a Sh500,000 fine and Mr Omanya a penalty of Sh300, 000 to escape the jail term.

The magistrate said although the two are junior officials and first-time offenders, the act embarrassed the commission responsible for fighting corruption. The two were charged in court on July 25, 2014. “On the 14th day of July 2014 at Kenya leadership Integrity Forum within Nairobi County, being a persons employed by a public body, the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission, jointly corruptly solicited for a benefit of Sh180,000 from Judith Kashem Omuonyi as an inducement so as not to disqualify her company from list of pre-qualification of suppliers,” reads one of the offence.

Mr Mutinda is said to have received Sh50,000 as inducements not to cancel local purchase order for supply of cameras to the EACC while Mr Omanya is said to have received a Sh28,000 bribe.