NAIROBI Kenya July 28 -An Inspector of Police who received the Sh10,000 bribe from the complainant in April 2021 via Mpesa has been charged before the Anti-Corruption Court in Milimani.
Inspector Susan Wambui Muiruri who is the in-charge of Zimmerman Police Post is to be charged with soliciting and receiving a bribe of Sh10,000 from the complainant, when she served at Kasarani Police Station, in order to facilitate the release of his girlfriend who had been arrested and held there.
The suspect also said the demanded bribe was a fee to facilitate ‘erasing’ particulars of the arrested person from the “digital OB.”
According to the EACC, the suspect received the Sh10,000 bribe from the complainant on April 25, 2021 via Mpesa.
The complainant had also been put in cells after the Inspector accused him of *”kuwa mjuaji na kuleta kichwa ngumu na mang’aa kwa polisi” when he went to inquire why his kin was arrested.
EACC said they received the complaint from the complainant’s advocates.
The first arrested person was working in the complainant’s liquor shop in Zimmerman.
At all material time, the arrested person who was the complainant’s girlfriend ran the joint with the complainant’s full consent and support.
He was later informed that his girlfriend had allegedly sold the liquor shop to one Dan Matiri for Sh150,000 who was at the station demanding his cash back.
The woman confirmed that she had obtained a loan of Sh150,000 from Dan who was a friend but had not sold the shop.
Armed with the information, the complainant demanded to see a sale agreement despite knowing very well that no one had authority to sell his shop since he was the registered and beneficial owner.
The police officers led by Police Inspector Susan Muiruri accused him of being rude and put him in a cell.
He alleged to have thereafter being humiliated, harassed and psychologically tortured in an effort to make him pay Sh150,000.00.
He spent the night at the police station and was threatened with court cases and possible link to a murder investigation.
He later bowed to pressure and refunded the Sh150,000 in order to secure his freedom, and that of his girlfriend.
The matter was settled but the Inspector further ordered him to pay her “cut” of Sh10,000 for facilitating the `negotiation.’
The officer claimed that Kasarani Police Station had since adopted a digital OB and because the particulars of the complainant and his arrested girlfriend had since been captured, they had to be “erased” from the digital OB and this required a minimum facilitation fees of Sh10,000.
She also said that the digital system was slow and they could only be processed for release digitally, including erasing some details from the digital OB.
As such, they risked spending another night in cells if the Sh10,000 facilitation fee was not paid in order to find a way of prioritizing them in the digital system.
After payment of the demanded amount of Sh10,000.00 through her registered Safaricom line, the “digital system” suddenly worked and they were released.
They reported the matter to EACC which undertook investigations and submitted the file to the Director of Public Prosecutions with recommendations to charge the officer.
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