Senior Police Inspector Zimmerman Police Post was detained by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) on Thursday for asking for a Ksh. 10,000 bribe.
According to reports, Susan Wambui Muiruri wanted a bribe in April 2021. The complainant arrived at the precinct after learning that the police had taken his girlfriend into custody.
“The arrested person, who was the complainant’s girlfriend, was working at his Wines and Spirits Shop located at Zimmerman with the accuser’s full consent and support,” a source at the EACC stated. “He received a phone call from a Zimmerman Police Post officer using his girlfriend’s number and was informed that the girlfriend had been arrested over an alleged theft from a customer at the wines and spirits shop.” When the complainant came at the station, the police informed him that his fiancée was accused of selling his liquor business to one Dan Matiri for Ksh. 150,000 but refusing to deliver the store or give him the money back.
Unconvinced by the accusations, the complainant insisted on seeing his girlfriend, who revealed that she had actually borrowed the money from Matiri and not been compensated for the booze store.
The EACC insider claimed that the complainant, who was both the registered and beneficial owner of the business, “demanded to see a sale agreement despite knowing very well that no one had the authority to sell his shop.” “The police officers put him in a cell after accusing him of being impolite, under the direction of Police Inspector Susan Muiruri. He claimed that after that, he was subjected to humiliation, abuse, and psychological torture in an effort to get him to pay the aforementioned Ksh. 150,000. The complainant further stated that if he didn’t pay the amount, the Inspector would link him to a murder case that was already under investigation.
“The complainant bowed to pressure and paid Ksh.150,000 to Dan Matiri in order to secure his freedom and that of his girlfriend and to put an end to the torturous episode,” claimed the source. Muiruiri is alleged to have requested Ksh.10,000 from the complaint after he and his girlfriend were freed for ‘facilitating’ the deal with Matiri.
Muiruri asserted that the Ksh.10,000 payment would ‘erase’ the allegations against the pair, which had been noted in the station’s digital occurrence book (OB). She added that the only way to process them for distribution was digitally and that the digital system was slow. Therefore, if the Ksh.10,000 facilitation charge was not paid in order to find a manner of prioritizing them in the digital system, they ran the possibility of spending another night in cells, the source continued. “The digital system suddenly worked, and they were released,” the source added. “The demanded amount was paid through her registered Safaricom Line.” The EACC launched an inquiry after receiving the complainant’s claim, and on Thursday, July 28, Muiruri was taken into custody.
She was scheduled to be arraigned before the Milimani Anti-Corruption Court on Friday to enter a plea, but she failed to appear, with her attorney informing the court that she was feeling ill. The trial date was postponed by the court to August 9, 2023.
