By Collins Wanzallah
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has raised an alarm over the increasing number of fraudsters in the country posing as detectives from the Commission. According to the commission’s spokesperson, Eric Ngumbi, the impostors have been conning the unsuspecting public while pretending to be conducting investigations against them.
Ngumbi revealed that this year alone, the Commission has encountered over 300 cases of fake detectives pretending to be officers from EACC.
Mr Ngumbi cited four categories of EACC imposters:
- Some imposters, especially in Kakamega, Bungoma, and Busia counties, have even established fake EACC offices pretending to offer EACC services. For instance, in Busia, an entity by the name of Anti-Corruption Investigations Agency has allegedly been receiving money from the public to address corruption-related conflicts and even purport to issue caveats or orders concerning land.
- Some of the imposters issue fake EACC Integrity Clearance certificates for candidates seeking employment at a fee, a service ordinarily offered by the Commission free of charge.
- Others carry out investigations, arrests, and search operations on their targets, then demand huge bribes, promising to skew the investigations in their favour or waive potential criminal charges.
- Others invade people’s business premises, claiming that they are inspecting compliance with various licensing requirements or counterfeit goods.
Mr Ngumbi said that the imposters have mainly been targeting state officers in the national government, county government officials, school principals, national government administration officers, and private business operators.
He said that the targeted victims have lost millions of shillings to the fraudsters. “For school principals, the imposters focus on allegations of illegal fee charges, procurement, and financial management issues, said Ngumbi. He said in different counties the fake cops target officials working in revenue collection, while for the National Government Administration officers, the fraudsters focus on alleged corruption.
He urged members of the public who may encounter suspicious persons to notify EACC and avoid succumbing to the fraudulent traps. The commission, he said, was surprised at the high level of readiness with which most Kenyans are willing to bribe their way out of perceived trouble.
“Even in cases where victims of these fraudsters can easily contact EACC to verify the authenticity of persons claiming to be its officers, the emerging pattern shows that most victims are quick to initiate settlement with the imposters leading to extortion of huge sums of money, added the EACC spokesperson.
He at the same time said that there was a likelihood of a rise in corruption dealings, which he disclosed was through an indication that some of the persons targeted by the imposters were involved in corruption or underworld dealings.
