Detectives from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission arrested a man posing as an Assistant Director of Intelligence Operations at the agency to defraud Kenyans.
The suspected serial imposter, Kennedy Ochieng Agutu, was smoked out of his hideout in South C where two fake staff ID cards for EACC were recovered and an entity called Kenya Network Against Corruption (Director – Intelligence & Data Survey), under the suspect’s name was found.
EACC Spokesperson Eric Ngumbi confirmed the arrest saying the suspect had been extorting millions of shillings from unsuspecting victims, including senior state officials.
Ngumbi said the suspect would approach his victims while pretending to be carrying out corruption investigations implicating them after which he would ask for huge ransom promising to ‘sort them out’ either by skewing investigations or waiving potential criminal charges.
The suspect was escorted to EACC for processing before he was later detained at Kilimani Police Station for processing.
Following the arrest, the Commission has since raised concern about an influx in the number of fraudsters posing as its detectives.
EACC says that this year, it has encountered over 350 cases of fake detectives conning Kenyans while pretending to be officers of EACC or other law enforcement agencies on official duty.
Some imposters, especially in Kakamega, Bungoma and Busia counties, have established fake EACC offices where they charge for services.
“For instance, an entity by the name Anti-Corruption Investigations Agency has allegedly been receiving money from the public to address corruption-related conflicts,” Ngumbi said.
The commission further notes that some imposters are issuing fake EACC Integrity Clearance certificates for candidates seeking employment at a fee, a service ordinarily offered by the Commission free of charge.
Others invade people’s business premises claiming that they are inspecting compliance with various licensing requirements or counterfeit goods.
The agency appealed to the public who encounter suspicious persons to always notify EACC to avoid succumbing to such fraudulent traps.
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