Fake KDF brigadier in court for attempting to influence recruitment

A suspected fraudster has been charged with attempting to interfere with the recent Kenya Forestry Service (KFS) recruitment exercise.

Paul Maina Kirera is alleged to have presented himself before Chief Inspector Charles Kimeli at the KFS headquarters as a brigadier in the Kenya Defence Forces on February 24.

He is suspected to have been on the mission of defrauding unsuspecting youths in search of employment.

He was armed with a forged KDF identity card, which he handed to Kimeli purporting it to be a genuine document. 

Maina is said to have arrived in a car, which he parked in the compound and then started moving from one office to another raising suspicion among KFS officers, leading to his arrest.

He first lied to security personnel manning the gate that he was an employee based at the headquarters.

KFS officers got suspicious when he started moving from office to office.

They escorted him to his car where they searched and recovered photocopies of various academic certificates and CVs and two mobile phones.  The matter was reported to Starehe Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) who took over the matter. He, however, collapsed following the arrest at a hospital in Pangani before he was transferred to Kenyatta National Hospital in critical condition. 

He was re-arrested at the hospital after he was discharged on March 8. In mitigation, Maina told the court he was sick. He was granted a bond of Sh100, 000 and a cash bail of a similar amount pending hearing on July 5.