An employee of Teachers Service Commission has been sentenced to serve two years in jail for fraud.
Jeremiah Kamanda was found guilty of seven counts of forgery of loan statement and payslip documents to defraud loan balance.
He was found to have defrauded Sh377,695 from Platinum Credit Company and Cooperative Bank, Kisii branch.
Kamanda, who appeared before chief magistrate Lucy Gitari, had earlier pleaded not guilty to the charges.
He committed the offence on April 22 last year jointly with others not before the court at unknown place within Kisii town.
In her judgement, Gitari said the defence was a sham and the offense was well orchestrated by the accused person.
Gitari said the defence cannot overturn the strong prosecution’s case since the bank has lost huge amount of money that they would not recover.
She said the prosecution had proved the offense beyond reasonable doubt that Kamanda forged documents and defrauded the bank.
Gitari delivered the judgement in the absence of Kamanda’s lawyer who failed to turn up in court without any explanation.
The magistrate said the jail term will run concurrently for the seven counts.
Kamanda asked for leniency saying that was his first offence. “I am a student at Bugema University, I humbly request for leniency,” he said.
He added that he has a family and old parents to take care of and pleaded with the court to sympathise with him.
The magistrate, however, took his mitigation and therefore delivered to the minimum sentenced prescribed by the law.
Kamanda has 14 days to appeal the sentence.