Police ‘witnessed’ school director bribing journalist

By Karanja Njoroge

Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) officers laid a trap for the director of a school as he attempted to bribe a journalist, a Nakuru court heard on Tuesday.

Mr Wycliffe Sirengo, an officer with the anti-graft agency, said they witnessed proceedings at a hotel where Isaac Kamunya is alleged to have attempted to bribe The Standard journalist Alex Kiprotich.

He said KACC officers acted on the case following a report lodged by the Standard Group.

He was testifying in a case where Kamunya is charged with corruptly offering an unspecified amount of cash to Kiprotich on December 1 at The Standard Group bureau offices in Nakuru to stop him publishing a story on Linda Koech who died at the school on July 28, 2008. The accused faces more charges of corruptly offering Sh20,000 and Sh70,000 to the journalist.

Sirengo said, together with two other officers from KACC, he went to the hotel in Nakuru town where Kiprotich was meeting Kamunya and two others.

"I saw the suspect remove some money from his coat, which he gave to a man who had accompanied him," he added.

The witness said the money was later returned to Kamunya who then handed it to the journalist under the table.

"After confirming that the money had changed hands we moved in and introduced ourselves as KACC officers," he added.