Brian Mwenda Njagi, a young Kenyan accused of impersonating an Advocate of the High Court, used fake certificates for admission to practice law, a Nairobi court heard yesterday.

Kennedy Ogutu, a legal officer with the Judiciary, told the Milimanidci chief magistrate that the certificates used as admission certificates allowing him to practice law as an advocate were not signed by the Chief Justice.

Brian Mwenda is charged with making a fake certificate for admission to practice law as an advocate. He has since denied six counts of uttering a false document and identity theft.

In his evidence in chief, Ogutu recalled that on October 3, 2023, Chief Registrar Ann Amadi received a letter from the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) who requested to confirm documents in regard to certificates of registration of Brian Mwenda as an advocate.

Gicheru’s signature

He said that upon checking their records, they discovered that Brian Mwenda was never admitted to practice law as an advocate in the year 2022. Ogutu also said on the same document that the signature appended on was that of former CJ Evan Gicheru, who was by then deceased, having died on December 26, 2020, at the age of 79.

The legal officer told the court that no celebration of admission of advocates to the bar was conducted in the year Brian purported to have been admitted to the bar as an advocate.

Ogutu was stood down until this morning to avail more electronic documents before producing the same as exhibits in the case.

In the first count, Brian is charged with intent to deceive, knowingly and fraudulently making a false document, namely a certificate in the name of Brian Mwenda N.

He allegedly purported it to be a Certificate of Admission to practice as an Advocate of the High Court, duly issued by the deputy registrar of the High Court.

Mwenda is said to have committed the offence between August 30, 2022, and March 3, 2023, at an unknown place within the country.

He faces another charge of fraudulently uttering a forged certificate of Admission in the name of Brian Mwenda N on March 3, 2023, at the law firm of Mwangi Kiai LLP Advocates’ offices in Westlands within Nairobi.

The accused was further charged with making a fake practising certificate for the year 2023 in the name of Brian Mwenda N, purporting it to be a practising certificate issued by the Chief Registrar of the Judiciary.

Mwenda also alleged that on August 14, 2023, at an unknown place, he fraudulently and dishonestly used Advocates Admission, a unique identifier assigned to Brian Mwenda Ntwiga, an Advocate of the High Court, to access and use the Law Society of Kenya online advocates account belonging to Ntwiga, purporting to be him.

Earlier, the defence lawyers led by John Khaminwa and Danstan Omari had opposed the Law Society of Kenya president from participating in the proceedings as victims.

Khaminwa argued that LSK should be victims in the case as they would ask the former President of LSK Eric Theuri and even the prosecution counsel to be either state witnesses or defence witnesses.