Kenya: Bomet County Employee Fined Sh900,000 Over Fake Master’s Degree

An anti-corruption court has found a Bomet County government employee guilty of forging an academic certificate and using it to apply for a promotion.

Dennis Kipngento Yegon was subsequently fined Sh900,000 or in default serve one year in jail.

Kericho Chief Magistrate Samuel Mokua handed down the sentence to the procurement officer for the offence committed on July 31, 2018.

In the charges pressed by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), Yegon was alleged to have applied for the position of director of procurement.

The position had been advertised by the Bomet Public Service Board on February 14, 2018. He was among four candidates shortlisted and interviewed for the position.

He faced six charges of presenting a false document, forging an academic certificate and giving false information.

“It has been demonstrated before this court that all other academic documents presented by the accused person to the Public Service Board – Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE), Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE), undergraduate degree, and computer competency certificates – are genuine,” Mr Mokua noted.

But he said that the master’s degree certificate that the accused person presented to the board was forged.

“Egerton University, which is purported to have issued the certificate, has made it clear that it was not offering a master’s in business administration (MBA), marketing option, at the time” Yegon was allegedly issued with the certificate, Mr Mokua said.

The magistrate noted that the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that the document was not genuine, as it was electronically generated by the accused person.

Mr Caleb Koech, lawyer for Yegon, appealed to the court to be lenient, saying Yegon did not benefit from the appointment and is the sole breadwinner of a young family.

Yegon, who was out on a Sh1 million bond and a surety of the same amount, could not immediately raise the Sh900,000 fine and was escorted out of the courtroom by the police to a waiting police van.

Source:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *