A senior clerk working at the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company Limited (NCWSC) has been fined Ksh8.5 million by the Milimani Anti-Graft Court after being found guilty of using a forged academic certificate to secure a job at the state-owned utility firm.
The employee reportedly presented a fake Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) certificate when applying for the job at NCWSC back on November 9, 2011.
Using the falsified document, he successfully gained employment and managed to work at the company for more than ten years. During that period, he unlawfully earned more than Ksh8 million in salaries and benefits.
According to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), investigations into the matter began after a whistleblower raised concerns about the authenticity of the suspect’s academic documents.
Following a detailed probe, it was discovered that the KCSE certificate he had submitted was not genuine and had never been issued by the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC), as he had claimed.
After completing their investigations, EACC handed over the case to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP).
The ODPP reviewed the evidence and approved charges against the suspect, including forgery, uttering a false document, fraudulent acquisition of public property, and deceiving a principal.
Milimani Anti-Graft Court Magistrate Selesa Okore found the accused guilty of the charges and noted that he had unlawfully benefited from public funds amounting to Ksh8,243,562 through the fraudulent employment. The court ruled that he must pay back the same amount as a fine or face four years in prison.
Additionally, the court imposed separate fines of Ksh100,000 each for the offences of deceiving a principal and presenting a fake certificate. If he fails to pay these fines, he will serve an additional two years in jail for each offence.
In total, the man was fined Ksh8,543,562 or risk serving up to four years in prison. However, Magistrate Okore ruled that all the sentences would run concurrently, meaning the jail terms would be served at the same time if he fails to pay the fines.
The EACC welcomed the court’s ruling, saying it serves as a strong warning to anyone attempting to use fake academic papers to obtain government jobs.
The commission emphasized that such fraudulent activities have been widespread in various public institutions and must be curbed to protect the integrity of public service.
Earlier this month, another former employee of the Nairobi Water Company faced similar charges after allegedly using a fake university degree to get hired.
The EACC reported that the former registry clerk submitted a forged Bachelor of Commerce certificate claiming it was issued by the University of Nairobi.
The case is part of the agency’s ongoing effort to eliminate fraud and ensure that only qualified individuals serve in public institutions.
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