Former Kaimosi Friends University employee charged over forgery of academic certificate

A former employee of Kaimosi Friends University (KAFU) has been charged with fraudulently acquiring over Ksh.6.3 million in public funds after allegedly using a forged academic certificate to secure employment at the institution.

The accused, Alexander Ndumia Kariuki, is said to have forged a Master of Criminology degree certificate and presented it as a genuine qualification issued by Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology.

According to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), investigations established that the forged certificate was allegedly used to secure employment as a Tutorial Fellow in Criminology at KAFU.

Court documents seen by Citizen Digital indicate that Kariuki is accused of fraudulently acquiring over Ksh.6.3 million in salary payments between February 2019 and March 2024 while employed as a tutorial fellow at KAFU.

The charge sheet states that he "fraudulently acquired public property amounting to Kenya shillings Ksh.6,337,945.00 being salary paid for having uttered a false academic certificate namely Master of Criminology degree certificate bearing certificate number 110342 in the name of Kariuki Ndumia Alexander, which the said public body relied upon to employ you, purporting to be issued to you by Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, a fact you knew to be false."

In the second count, prosecutors allege that Kariuki forged the Master of Criminology degree certificate "with intent to deceive," purporting it to be a genuine degree certificate issued by Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology.

He also faces a third count of uttering a false document, where they say he knowingly and fraudulently presented the alleged forged certificate to Kaimosi Friends University while purporting it to be genuine.

EACC said Kariuki failed to appear in court on June 9, 2026, prompting the court to forfeit his cash bail of Ksh.50,000 and issue a warrant for his arrest.

The warrant was executed on June 15, and the suspect was arrested before being arraigned before the Kakamega Anti-Corruption Court on Tuesday.

However, Chief Magistrate Jared Magori lifted the warrant of arrest and set aside the forfeiture order after Kariuki presented himself at EACC offices.

The suspect pleaded not guilty to all three charges and was released on a bond of Ksh.1 million with a surety of a similar amount or an alternative cash bail of Ksh.500,000.

The case will be mentioned on July 1, 2026, for pre-trial directions.