Ex-Rerec boss accused of using fake papers to land top job
A Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy ( Rerec) General Manager Finance and ICT Noah Okech Oluoch alias Noah Oketch Oluoch was charged with fraudulently receiving public funds through securing a job while using a forged degree certificate from the University of Nairobi.
What you need to know:
- Accused of forging a Master of Business Administration Degree Certificate Number 0217 in the name of Noah Oluoch Oketch.
- The charge further stated that he purported the said degree was a genuine one issued by the University of Nairobi.
A former General Manager Finance and ICT at the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy (Rerec) has been charged with securing the job using a forged master degree certificate and receiving fraudulently Sh1.4m in salary from public coffers.
Mr Noah Okeche Oluoch aka Noah Oketch Oluoch was arraigned before Milimani anti-corruption court chief magistrate Thomas Nzioki for taking home fraudulently salary for five months from the electricity distributing agency.
Oluoch denied three counts filed against him then applied to be freed on bond saying he is not a flight risk.
Praying to be freed on a reasonable cash bail of Sh70,000, Oluoch claimed he had cooperated with the investigators from the EACC since August 2022.
He said he has been out on a personal bond and that he attended interrogation sessions as directed.
Oluoch pleaded for a lenient bail term saying he is a family man with a wife and children attending schools in Nairobi.
Besides residing at Langata, Oluoch submitted he has a strong rural attachment and that “I cannot flee this courts jurisprudence.”
He pledged to deposit his passport in court as a sign of good character.
However, state prosecutor Caroline Kimiri did not oppose the release of the accused person on bond but urged the court to impose stringent terms.
“I urge this court to consider the nature of the offences and impose stringent terms,” Ms Kimiri urged.
In a brief ruling Mr Nzioki directed the accused to deposit a bond of Sh1million with one surety of similar amount with an alternative cash bail of Sh500,000.
He fixed the case for pre-trial directions on April 17,2024.
Nzioki further directed the accused to deposit his passport within seven days.
He also slapped the accused with an order that he should never leave the jurisdiction of the court without its express permission.
Oluoch denied that between April 1 and August 31,2022 having been employed as the General Manager Finance and ICT at the Rerec he fraudulently acquired public funds Sh1,455,066 in salary using a forged degree certificate to secure the top job.
The second indictment was that at an unknown place within the Republic of Kenya with intend to deceive, he forged a Master of Business Administration Degree Certificate Number 0217 in the name of Noah Oluoch Oketch.
The charge further stated that he purported the said degree was a genuine one issued by the University of Nairobi.
Oluoch denied a third count of uttering (presenting) the said forged master’s degree certificate to the Chief Executive Officer of Rerec with an intend to deceive.
The accused allegedly purported the said degree certificate was a genuine document issued to him by the University of Nairobi (UoN).
In the same court Philip Mutua Kilonzo was charged with demanding a bribe of Sh2.9million from three officials of a children’s home to influence the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to write off alleged tax dues owed to the taxman from Grace Children’s Home.
Mr Kilonzo denied he demanded the money from Joseph Ndambuki Makosi, Shadrack Mutisya Kyungu and Simon Kioko Mwangangi at Afro Sayari Hotel along Eastern Bypass within Nairobi County on October 4,2020.
He was also accused of receiving a bribe of Sh20,000 from Simon Kioko Mwangangi an official of United African Evangelical Ministries to facilitate him hold a meeting with KRA officials to wave tax dues owed by Grace Children’s Home.
He was freed on bond pending the fixing of a hearing date for the church.
