Two public servants jailed for forging academic certificates, ordered to refund salaries

Two public servants have been sentenced for alleged forgery of academic documents and ordered to refund all salaries earned with the fake certificates.

The two, Pauline Otieno and Lilian Ochieng, were employees at the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation in 2018 as Supplies Assistants.

Ms Otieno was convicted and jailed for two years and six months or pay a Ksh.228,698 fine while Ms Ochieng was jailed for three years and six months or pay a Ksh.271,901 fine.

According to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), the pair was charged with five counts of crimes among them forgery and deceit.

"They faced the following criminal charges; forgery, providing false information to a public entity, deceiving a public entity, uttering a false document and fraudulent acquisition of public property being the cumulative salary earned on forged certificates," read a statement by EACC.

Ms Otieno is said to have forged a procurement certificate from Mount Kenya University (MKU) while Ms Ochieng is said to have forged both a Diploma and Certificate from the Kenya Institute of Management (KISM).

Prior to formal employment, the duo had worked in the corporation for eight years as casual employees before forging the documents for their promotion to Supplies Assistants.