Lawyer In Court Against Imposter Client Over Sh500,000 Bail Deposit
A city lawyer has filed a lawsuit against his client over a Sh500,000 bail that he allegedly paid for the accused but was not reimbursed.
On Tuesday, Advocate Collins Osewe told Milimani Anti-Corruption Principal Magistrate Celesa Okore that his law firm paid Noah Oketch’s cash bail, but he has yet to refund the money despite dropping the firm.
Oketch was charged in April with three counts of falsifying academic documents in order to be hired as the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation’s general manager of finance and information technology.
When he was arraigned on the charges, he was represented by Osewe.
Osewe stated that Oketch’s cash bail of Sh500,000 was transferred from his law firm’s account at KCB Bank’s Milimani branch to the Judiciary account.
“The agreement we had for the refund or to make a substitution of the cash bail with surety has not been honoured,” Osewe told the court.
“I am asking the court to order that the refund be made now that the client has contracted another advocate and law firm.”
Oketch admitted in his response that the deposit had been made but denied refusing to refund.
Oketch, through his new lawyer Mureithi, claimed to have paid back Sh375,000 and had M-Pesa records to prove it.
The court directed Oketch and his lawyer to present the M-Pesa refund statements in court tomorrow before a ruling is made.
Oketch is accused of forging a Master of Business Administration degree certificate, claiming it was issued to him by the University of Nairobi.
He is also charged with knowingly and fraudulently, with intent to deceive, providing the same certificate to authorities at the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation for employment.
The Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission claims Oketch obtained public property in the form of salary and allowances totaling Sh1,455,066 from REREC between April 1 and August 31, 2022.
This occurred after he was hired as general manager for finance and ICT with a forged degree certificate.
Dinah Jesang, a Rerec human resource officer who handled the manager’s applications during the recruitment process, testified in the case yesterday.
She stated that she oversaw the recruitment after being delegated the role by her boss, Evelyne Koech, the human resources manager.
The hearing will continue tomorrow.
Lawyer In Court Against Imposter Client Over Sh500,000 Bail Deposit
