NGO board chief loses bid to halt fraud claim report

NGO Co-ordination Board executive director Fazul Mahamed has lost a bid to block the implementation of the Ombudsman report indicating he used forged a certificate to get employed at the agency.

High Court Judge George Odunga on Thursday declined to issue temporary orders, saying that it would be a violation of rules of natural justice.

“In my view to grant the said order would with due respect be a mischievous way of the court process, in allowing such a request in my respectful view, would turn this proceedings into a circus and render them a theatre of absurd,” he ruled.

Mr Justice Odunga faulted Mr Mahamed of attempting to get reprieve orders from the court through the backdoor, adding that his suit papers did not include Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and public prosecutors — the investigating agencies.

“To my mind, the omission to expressly provide for the amendment of the case documents was intentional and was intended to avoid the introduction of other reliefs at a later stage,” the judge said.

The Ombudsman’s office was looking into allegations of forgery, falsification of academic documents and abuse of power against Mr Mahamed.

However, he moved to court last year seeking to suspend implementation of the investigative report.

The EACC earlier said it could not trace the certificates when investigating claims that Mr Mahamed had used forged documents to secure employment at the board.

His CV shows he graduated from Egerton University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry in 2009 prior to his appointment at the board in November 2014.

The EACC in a March gazette notice said it could not prosecute Mr Mahamed because the missing file derailed investigations, but added that there is enough grounds for administrative action, including his sacking.

In 2015, Egerton registrar of academic affairs SFO Owido said Mr Mahamed was discontinued on academic grounds in his third year of study by the Senate on August 26, 2010.