The Nairobi Anti-Corruption Court has sentenced a former senior official of the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation (REREC) to pay a total fine of Ksh3 million or serve four years in prison for using forged academic credentials to secure employment and earn a salary.
In a statement on Thursday, August 14, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) said the ex-General Manager for Finance and ICT, Noah Okech Oluoch, was found guilty of fraudulently acquiring public funds between April 1, 2022, and August 31, 2022.
"Noah Okech Oluoch, aka Noah Oketch Oluoch, was found guilty of fraudulently acquiring public property in terms of salary and allowances of Ksh1,455,066.05 from the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation, having been employed using a forged degree certificate," the statement read.
According to the ODPP, for this offence, the court imposed a fine of Ksh100,000 or one year in prison, alongside a mandatory fine of Ksh2.9 million or two years’ imprisonment in default.
"On this count, the court sentenced him to pay a fine of Ksh100,000, or in default, serve 1 year imprisonment and a mandatory fine of Ksh2,910,131.10, or in default, 2 years imprisonment," the statement added.
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Additionally, the court convicted Oluoch for uttering a false document.
The prosecution proved that on March 23, 2021, while at REREC’s Nairobi offices, Oluoch knowingly presented a forged Master of Business Administration degree certificate to the corporation’s CEO, CPA Peter Mbugua.
"On the 23rd day of March 2021 at the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation, within Nairobi County, with intent to deceive, knowingly and fraudulently uttered a forged Master of Business Administration Degree Certificate in the name of Noah Oluoch Oketch to CPA Peter Mbugua, the Chief Executive Officer at the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation, purporting it to be a genuine document issued to him by the University of Nairobi, a fact he knew to be false," the statement further read.
For this count, Oluoch was fined Ksh100,000 or sentenced to one year in prison if he failed to pay.
"He was convicted and fined Ksh100,000 or, in default, sentenced to serve 1 year's imprisonment for the offence of uttering a false document," the statement added.
The sentences will run consecutively.
