The Anti-Corruption Court on Tuesday, March 28, sentenced former Bonchari Member of Parliament (MP) Robert Oimeke to three years in prison or pay a fine of Ksh1 million.
While issuing the ruling, senior Principal Magistrate Peter Ooko found Oimeke guilty of receiving a bribe valued at Ksh200,000.
The magistrate detailed that Oimeke received the bribe while he was the Director General of the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) in 2020 to facilitate the reopening of a petrol station in Oyugis, Homa Bay County.
Additionally, it noted that the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) had earlier stated that the petrol station had been shut down over violations of laws put in place by the authority.
He was charged with requesting a Ksh500,000 bribe and receiving Ksh200,000 from the owner of the petrol station.
The owner of the station, who was armed with a recording device in alliance with the anti-corruption officers to prove that he had indeed received the money, reported that the former MP asked for the bribe.
However, Oimeke maintained his innocence alleging that he had been framed by detectives who arrested him adding that he had no knowledge of an envelope with the money found on his desk by detectives.
"The accused further claimed that he was surprised to find an envelope inside a drawer in his office and that he neither knew who brought neither it nor its contents.
"He made the claims despite the prosecution demonstrating to the court through video evidence that he had received the envelope containing bribe money from the complainant," the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions stated in October 2022.
After the incident, Oimeke resigned as EPRA boss on March 2021 and joined politics.
He proceeded to take part in the Bonchari Parliamentary by-election in May 2021 following the death of the Constituency's then MP Oroo Oyioka and won under the ODM ticket.
Oimeke did not seek re-election during the August 2022 elections after losing the ODM ticket.
