The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has arrested two judicial staff accused of soliciting a bribe to facilitate the retrieval of a case file.
The arrest came barely a week after Chief Justice Martha Koome announced that the Judiciary would be working with the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and EACC to tackle the scourge of corruption.
According to a statement from the EACC, two, a Senior Court Assistant and a Customer Care Officer were arrested on Wednesday, March 26.
The two are accused of asking for a Ksh5,000 bribe from a court user at the Mbita Law Courts. The agency said it began investigations after receiving a graft complaint on March 24.
The complaint alleged that a Senior Court Assistant based at Mbita Law Courts was demanding a bribe to retrieve a succession case file from the court registry.
The complainant, who had attempted to retrieve the file numerous times, is said to have gone ahead to bribe the officials to get the file but complained to EACC.
According to the EACC, a Customer Care Officer is said to have received the Ksh5,000 on behalf of the Senior Court Assistant.
“The commission conducted an operation that resulted in the arrest of a customer care officer who accepted a bribe of Ksh5,000 on behalf of the Senior Court Assistant,” said EACC in a statement.
The two were arrested and escorted to Mbita Police Station for processing and later released on a Ksh20,000 cash bail pending the finalisation of the investigation.
On Tuesday, CJ Koome admitted that the country’s third arm is under intense scrutiny and issued directives to all court staff in a bid to improve public perception.
According to Koome, she will be employing NIS and EACC to fight graft in the ranks of the court system.
She said, “We are now complementing the complaints approach with an intelligence-based model that involves working closely with the EACC and the National Intelligence Service.” CJ Koome announced.
“The Judiciary is a corruption-free zone… And in this regard, we have adopted a zero-tolerance policy on corruption, and we are determined to enforce it without fear or favour,” she added.
