A businessman has been convicted by a Nairobi Anti-Corruption Court for giving a bribe to a female police officer.
According to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), the businessman identified as Paul Mwangi Warutere gave out a bribe of Ksh100,000.
During the hearing, the court heard that the businessman gave out the said bribe to a police corporal attached to Central Police Station within Nairobi County with the aim of gaining favours.
The ODPP’s statement on Thursday, August 22, 2024, added that the convicted businessman wanted favours in relation to a case involving his father and wife, who were charged with conspiracy to defraud millions of shillings.
“He offered a bribe of Ksh100,000 to a public officer on January 16, 2020, in the Republic of Kenya within Nairobi,” ODPP’s statement read in part.
Sentencing
According to ODPP’s statement, the prosecuting counsel, Victor Onyiego, established a bribery case against the accused person beyond reasonable doubt.
Following the establishment of the facts on the case, Principal Magistrate Isabellah Barasa fined the businessman Ksh300,000 or serve two years imprisonment.
“Principal Magistrate Isabellah Barasa sentenced Warutere to a fine of Ksh150,000 or in default to serve two years for offering a bribe to a police officer and to pay another fine of Ksh150,000 in default to serve two years imprisonment for giving a bribe of Ksh100,000 to a police officer,” ODPP’s statement indicated.
The identity of the police officer was not immediately revealed by the statement released by ODPP.
The conviction comes even as ODPP and other investigative agencies step up efforts to eliminate graft, especially in the police service.
In recent months, several officers have been apprehended in connection with bribery allegations. In June 2024, a security officer was nabbed extorting a Ksh40,000 bribe from a suspect with an outstanding matter.
The suspect had been arrested by the police, but when the file was forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions to approve prosecution, it was directed that the complainant be released and the matter settled out of court.
However, the said officer was nabbed for demanding a bribe.