The Judiciary had flagged reports circulating on social media of Supreme Court judge Isaac Lenaola receiving a Ksh 246 million bribe at a hotel in Karen as fake.
In a notice dated Saturday, the Judiciary urged Kenyans to ignore the posts that had been altered to resemble the cover of a local daily newspaper.
Kenyans were urged to disregard the fake posts and desist from sharing them after going viral on social media.
As per the fake posts, it was purported that the bribe was given to the judge in dollars (USD 1.7 million) at a hotel in Karen by Deputy Speaker Gladys Shollei.
It was also alleged that the incident was captured on CCTV with the story running as an investigative news story.
“A CCTV footage we exclusively obtained from the Karen Blixen Hotel’s car park captures the supreme court judge collecting the money in cash from the Uasin Gishu Women Rep,” claimed the fake newspaper post.
While the main reason for the bribe claims was not clear, the fake reports claimed that the bribe was in connection with the Supreme Court decision over the 2022 presidential petition.
In the 2022 petition filed by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, the seven Supreme Court judges unanimously upheld the win of President William Ruto in the 2022 polls.
Notably, Shollei was among the lawyers who were part of Ruto's legal team of 54.
The Uasin Gishu Woman Representative was also an agent for Ruto in the presidential elections and oversaw verification of results at Bomas.
The authors of the fake post are yet to be known. The Judiciary did not detail whether legal action would be taken against those behind the fake posts.
Shollei is also yet to comment on whether she will take legal action against the authors of the fake post.
