Juja MP Koimburi freed on Ksh.200K cash bail in academic certificates forgery case

Juja Member of Parliament (MP) George Ndung’u Koimburi has been released on a Ksh.200,000 cash bail after pleading not guilty to various charges, among them forgery of academic documents.

Koimburi, who was arraigned at the Kiambu Law Courts on Wednesday following his arrest on Tuesday, faced six charges related to forgery and uttering false documents.

“On diverse dates between November and December 1994 at an unknown time and place within Republic of Kenya, with intent to deceive, the MP forged a Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) certificate to wit Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) purporting it to be a genuine and dully signed certificate issued by KNEC,” said the Office of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) in an X statement.

Koimburi was also charged with two additional counts of forging a Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) certificate of participation in the East African Universities Accession Project and a JKUAT Academic Excellence certificate from the School of Human Resource Development.

“The MP was also charged with allegedly uttering the said academic certificates and Certificate of participation, purporting them to be genuine and duly signed certificates issued by KNEC and JKUAT,” said the ODPP.

“Court heard that the accused person knowingly and fraudulently uttered the said certificates on the 8th of March 2021 at the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) offices.”

The legislator subsequently pleaded not guilty to all the six charges.

Additionally, the court is set to decide on February 20 whether the MP will face an additional charge of failing to attend court, as requested by the prosecution.

“The accused was initially charged with forging academic certificates on 26th April 2021 and released on a bond of Ksh.100,000,” said the ODPP.

“Court issued a warrant of arrest on 16th September 2021 after the MP failed to attend to court summons and forfeited his cash bail.”