KWS Officer Who ‘Auctioned’ His Signature To Survivor Of Crocodile Attack Arrested

GARISSA, Kenya, Aug 5- A Kenya Wildlife Service officer was on Thursday arrested by detectives from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, for demanding a bribe.

The bribe was to ‘facilitate’ his services to a man who was seeking compensation from KWS, after he was attacked by a crocodile in River Tana.

But the assistant warden’s signature was needed for the compensation to be reviewed and subsequently approved.

The survivor, Duwan Kheir was attacked by a crocodile while herding his livestock. The incident happened in Denyere area of the County.

EACC detectives who identified the officer as Jimnah Pertet- said he had initially demanded for a bribe of Sh100,000 to append his signature in the compensation forms.

“The officer demanded a bribe of Sh100,000 to sign the papers which we could not raise as a family. We however negotiated the amount to Sh40, 000,” a kin to the survivor, Yasin Mohamed told Shahidi News.

The anti-graft body Northeastern boss Emmanuel Arunga said the suspect was arrested after he received treated money that had been given to the survivor after investigations.

“Once we received the complaint, we organized an operation at the KWS offices and recorded the said officer demanding the money. We also took statements from the victim and witnesses,” he said.

The suspect is now held at the Garissa police station and will be charged with the offense of receiving a bribe contrary to the law.