A man and woman accused of defrauding public officials and members of the public while pretending to be senior Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) directors have been arrested.

Sharon Nanjala Anyango and Tobias Wekesa are accused of posing as top EACC officials in a position to terminate ongoing corruption cases in exchange for money, the anti-graft agency said yesterday.

Anyango and Wekesa were arrested in Bungoma while extorting money from a senior government official, promising to “sort out” a corruption case they claimed to be investigating.

According to a statement by the Chief Executive Officer, EACC, Abdi Mahamud, the duo allegedly posed as Commission directors, and purported to have the power to terminate ongoing corruption cases in exchange for payment.

Wekesa, who falsely identified himself as the Director in charge of the EACC Kakamega office, is a third-year student at Kibabii University while Anyango, who posed as a senior EACC Director based in Nairobi, allegedly graduated from Kibabii University last year. The EACC does not have a Kakamega office.

Pardon price

“The duo had raided a National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) office, claiming they were conducting an official investigation into ongoing projects. During the raid, they demanded a bribe of Sh150,000 from the complainants, promising to halt the investigation and “forgive” them,” read the report in parts.

The ethics agency said the duo was being held at their Western regional offices in Bungoma for interviews and statement recording.
“Tobias Wekesa (23 years), posing as the EACC Director in charge of the EACC Kakamega Office. Notably, such office does not exist as the Commission’s regional office for the Western Region is based in Bungoma. The suspect informed the EACC that he is a third-year student at Kibabii University, “reads a statement.

The complainant, Madam Joyce Mumelo immediately reported the incident to the EACC, which launched an operation leading to the suspects’ arrest.

The two suspects were apprehended in an NG-CDF office, which they had raided, claiming to be on official duty to investigate NG-CDF projects.

They demanded the bribe from the complainants, promising to drop the investigation. The complainants notified the EACC, which mounted an operation leading to the suspect’s arrest.

In a similar incident last October, EACC arrested a man posing as the commission’s assistant director of intelligence operations.
Kennedy Ochieng Agutu was captured in Nairobi’s South C area. He had allegedly been extorting millions of shillings from unsuspecting victims, including senior state officials. Detectives said they found him with a fake EACC staff ID card and that of an entity called Kenya Network Against Corruption.

In 2024 alone, EACC said it recorded over 350 cases of fake detectives conning Kenyans while pretending to be the agency’s officers.

It said some imposters, especially in Kakamega, Bungoma and Busia counties, had even established fake EACC offices where they charged for services.