Man detained for impersonating EACC officer

A man suspected of posing as an officer of the anti-graft agency has been remanded for five days.

Mombasa Senior Resident Magistrate Lillian Lewa ordered Wesley Kipkemoi detained at the Nyali Police Station to allow anti-corruption agency officers to complete their investigations.

Prosecutors had said Mr Kipkemoi had on several occasions extorted money from public officers after threatening to arrest them over corruption and economic-crimes offences.

Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Alexander Muteti said the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) is investigating the suspect’s involvement in corruption and other crimes.

SABOTAGE

He said the suspect extorted money from people connected to Kilifi and Mombasa counties by threatening to sabotage, arrest and fix them.

“The timing of the incident by the respondent targeting public officers within the counties of Mombasa and Kilifi at this time when the country is approaching elections could be a threat to national security,” said Mr Muteti.

He added that the EACC is apprehensive that there could be a wider syndicate involved in the impersonation of people pretending to be anti-graft officers and hence the need to carry out comprehensive investigations.

An investigator with the EACC, John Ngiro, said the suspect was arrested at a hotel in Nyali on Saturday at 10.30pm.

He said that at the time of the arrest, the suspect had Sh265 and was found in possession of several ATM cards whose use in transactions the commission needs to investigate further.

“The respondent has no known fixed aboard and is a high flight risk and the commission objects to his release on bond as it requires time to carry out comprehensive investigations,” said Mr Ngiro.

The case will be mentioned on Monday next week.