Man masquerading as EACC official arraigned in court

**Militonic Mwendwa Kitute was apprehended following a complaint by Joshua Mugendi Njiru.** [iStockphoto]

A Kitui-based politician was presented in court Monday under a miscellaneous application by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) that sought orders to detain him for 14 days for allegedly posing as its investigator.

Militonic Mwendwa Kitute was presented before Milimani Anti-Corruption Magistrate Zipporah Gichana after the EACC apprehended him following a complaint by Joshua Mugendi Njiru.

Through Jason Erick Mrisha the anti-graft agency sought to detain the suspect arguing that he had refused to give the investigators passwords to 12 electronic devices that were found in his possession and asked the court to compel him to provide them.

Mrisha said the suspect was apprehended in Kitui on April 20, 2024, following Mugendi's complaint.

"Preliminary investigations by the commission reveal that the respondent is a serial fraudster seeking to benefit from members of the public under the guise of being an employee of EACC," he told the court.

He said the accused had previously recorded a statement with the EACC on other matters of a similar nature and was charged in court with impersonation in 2007.

"The respondent is a flight risk going by the fact that he was very evasive on the days leading to his arrest and given an opportunity he shall go into hiding, influence witnesses and also temper with the evidence in order to scuttle the investigations," said Mrisha.

In the alternative to the prayers that the EACC sought to hold the suspect for 14 days, they asked the court to grant Mwendwa a conditional bail to be reporting to the anti-graft agency at Integrity Centre, Nairobi, once every week until the investigations are completed.

Mwendwa's defence team asked the court to release him and order him to report to EACC until investigations are completed.

The lawyers claimed that their client was not a flight risk and he would cooperate with investigators. The court set the accused free.