A legal assistant officer at the University of Nairobi (UoN) who was found guilty of corruption and fined a total of Sh1.5 million for soliciting bribes from two students has lost his appeal at the High Court.
Mathews Omondi Nyadiga was first found guilty in February 2019 for receiving bribes from Moses Wakenya and Pamela Gitobu, both students at the UoN.
Nairobi Senior Principal Magistrate Lawrence Mugambi ruled that the prosecution had proven beyond a reasonable doubt that on \May 1, 2016, at the UoN, the accused being a legal assistant corruptly solicited for Sh150,000 from the two complainants as an inducement to help them be sworn in as a Kenyatta National Campus representative and finance secretary respectively.
The court heard that after the election, Omondi started demanding Sh90,000 bribe from each of the complainants to facilitate their swearing-in as Student Organization of Nairobi University (SONU).
The magistrate ordered Omondi to pay Sh800,000 fine or serve one year in jail for the first count and in the second count to pay Sh700,000 or to serve one-year imprisonment.
But the High Court in late December last year upheld the conviction and sentence with the only variation being that the sentence should be served concurrently from the date it was imposed.
During the trial, Wakenya and Gitobu told the court that after the administration failed to swear them in, they reported the matter to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).
With the help of EACC detectives, Omondi was arrested after pocketing treated money.
The detectives arrested Omondi after he received Sh90,000 from Wakenya and Gitobu at Nakumatt Lifestyle, near the university’s main campus.
The cash and audio recordings of the accused soliciting the bribe were presented as exhibits in court.
Wakenya and Gitobu had participated in SONU elections that ended in a violent confrontation between opposing camps and led to the expulsion of 201 learners from the university.
