By Angela Kibara
A long-serving employee of the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company has been arraigned in court to face charges of forging her academic certificate and fraudulently acquiring over KSh 7.5 million in salaries.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) detailed the charges against Teresia Chepkemoi Chepkwony in a social media post, highlighting a case of fraud spanning more than a decade.
The post, which laid out the particulars of the case, stated that Ms. Chepkwony, who worked as a revenue collection assistant, technician, and marketing assistant at the public utility, was charged before the Milimani Anti-Corruption Court on Wednesday.
According to the ODPP, the charges relate to her reported use of a fake academic certificate to gain and maintain employment.
“The court heard that on an unknown date and place within the Republic of Kenya, with the intent to deceive, she forged a Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) in the name of Chepkemoi Teresia bearing a mean grade of C plus from Boron Secondary School, purporting it to be a genuine document issued to her by the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC), a fact she knew to be false,” stated the ODPP.
The document, which she knew to be false, was reportedly used to secure her position.
The DPP’s social media statement also detailed that Ms. Chepkwony was charged with an offense of fraudulent acquisition of public property.
It is alleged that between March 1, 2013, and December 31, 2023, she fraudulently acquired KSh 7,590,872.00 in salaries from the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company on account of securing employment with a forged academic certificate.
Additionally, she was charged with uttering a false document and deceiving a principal.
The DPP stated that on or about September 18, 2017, Ms. Chepkwony knowingly and fraudulently presented the forged KCSE certificate and “deceived Titus Tuitoek, the human resource manager, by filling out a personnel record form stating that she is a holder of a Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education with a mean grade of C plus, which information she knew to be false.”
She pleaded not guilty to all charges before Principal Magistrate C.N. Ondieki. The DPP’s update further detailed that the court directed that Ms. Chepkwony be released upon executing a bond of KSh 500,000 with one surety of the amount.
Alternatively, the statement indicated, she would be released upon depositing a cash bail of KSh 100,000. The case is scheduled for mention on September 3, 2025, for further directions.