A district officer (DO) instructed police officers attached to his office to confiscate motor vehicle parts of a businesswoman’s car before soliciting for a bribe, a Nakuru court heard yesterday.
An Ethics and Anti-corruption officer, Francis Kitoto, told the court that former Namanga DO Parnwell Gitongah received the bribe from a businesswoman in 2011 as inducement to release vehicle parts allegedly confiscated by the police officers.
The officer told court that the DO ordered that the car owner visits his office with Sh8,000 without which the vehicle parts could not be released.
In the previous trial, video clips were played in court showing how the administrator hid the Sh8,000 bribe he had received in his left leg socks.
The video clip further showed how the officers ambushed the administrator in his office minutes after receiving the serialed money.
Catherine Wangeci, an officer from the Integrity Centre, told the court that Gitongah received the bribe from the businesswoman in 2011 as inducement to release vehicle parts allegedly confiscated by police officers.
Gitongah has denied soliciting for a bribe from Rose Kimani to release number plates and battery stickers of her vehicle on February 22, 2011.
The senior officer from the corruption watchdog earlier told the court that they received a tip-off about Gitongah’s demand for a bribe and accompanied the complainant to the DO’s office where they ambushed him minutes after he had received the money.
The accused was arrested and escorted to Kajiado police station where he was held for interrogation and had his finger prints taken for further investigations before being presented in court.
However, Gitongah’s defence lawyer claimed that he had not been provided with the audio-visual evidence and dismissed the clip as a mere fabrication to frame his client.
Senior principal magistrate Felix Kombo, who was hearing the dispute, slated mention of the case for December 8.