An official attached to the Malindi Sub County was caught soliciting a bribe on Tuesday, April 9, as officers from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) mounted a sting operation.
In a statement on Wednesday, the EACC revealed that the Senior Development Officer at Malindi Sub-County attempted to extort Ksh24,500 from a civilian.
According to the commission, the suspect asked for a bribe to facilitate the issuance of a clearing certificate, which the complainant was seeking to develop his plot.
Instead of obliging to the bribe request, the complainant reported the matter to the EACC Upper Coast Regional Office, prompting officials to devise a plan to nab the rogue official.
"The Commission conducted an operation and arrested the suspect yesterday while receiving the bribe," EACC revealed in their statement, adding that an inquiry file had been submitted to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, which gave the go-ahead to charge the suspect.
The suspect was subsequently arraigned at the Malindi Law Courts before Chief Magistrate Elizabeth Usui on Wednesday, where he was charged with two counts of receiving a bribe.
His actions, according to the EACC, were contrary to section 6(1) as read with section 18(1) of the Anti-Bribery Act No. 47 of 2016.
The act states that if a public officer or individual asks for or accepts a bribe with the intention of influencing a decision or service, they will be committing an offence that is punishable through a fine not exceeding Ksh5 million or imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years, or both.
After pleading not guilty, the suspect was freed on a bond of Ksh200,000 or cash bail of Ksh50,000.
This was the latest incident involving a public servant getting caught in the act by EACC officials in what looks like a strategic effort from the officials to crack down on corruption in the public service sector.
Over the last few months, several government officials have been nabbed and arraigned, with a majority of them guilty of the accusations levelled against them. One of the more sensational cases saw five police officers arrested by EACC officials soliciting bribes from motorists plying the Kakamega-Bungoma Road in Mumias, Kakamega County.
In a separate incident, an Anti-Corruption Court in Nairobi on Thursday, March 13, sentenced an Inspector of Police to two years in prison or a fine of Ksh550,000 following her conviction for soliciting and receiving a bribe of Ksh10,000 to unlawfully facilitate the release of two suspects from police custody.
