Kakamega: EACC arrests two women for allegedly impersonating officers, extorting traders
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) on Friday, July 14 arrested two women for allegedly impersonating the commission’s officials and extorting traders in Kakamega county.
Ruth Kaimuri and Tabitha Kwena Wangeci are said to be the operators of a private entity called Multi-Agency Works and Rights Enforcement that has been reportedly masquerading as a law enforcement body conducting criminal investigations, arrests, inspection of stock in shops to verify compliance with standards and expiry dates, business operating licences, and tax compliance by traders.
The two suspects would allegedly confiscate goods and demand bribes of between Ksh. 20, 000 to Ksh. 50, 000 from traders in order to release the goods and avoid charging them in court.
“The suspects were arrested after they demanded a bribe of Ksh. 50,000 from a trader in order to return goods they had impounded from the complainant’s Mini Supermarket in Khayega Shopping Centre, Shinyalu Constituency, Kakamega Town. Prior to the intervention by EACC, the suspects had “arrested’’ the Mini Supermarket’s attendant and impounded goods which they said had not met the standards prescribed by law,” read the report from EACC.
EACC Head of Corporate Affairs and Communication Eric Ngumbi said that the commission is conducting investigations following an upsurge in the impersonation of officials.
“It is sad and regrettable that many Kenyans have fallen prey to impersonators who have extorted huge amounts of money from them partly due to the readiness of the victims to bribe their way out of corruption allegations. EACC clarifies that in the discharge of its mandate, there is no room for perverting the course of justice through bribery or any other way and as such, any person asking for a bribe in order to provide help by skewing investigations is not an EACC officer and should thus be reported for immediate arrest to be dealt with according to the law.”
The two suspects purported to be based at Khayega Police Station. They are currently been detained at the same station pending further processing on Monday.