Juja MP George Koimburi charged with forging academic papers, freed on Sh200,000 cash bail
Juja MP George Koimburi addresses the media at United Democratic Alliance party headquarters on May 21, 2021.
What you need to know:
- Mr Koimburi was arrested on Tuesday (February 18, 2025) outside one of his residences in Kiambu.
- He was taken to the DCI headquarters for interrogation and later detained at Kamukunji Police Station.
Juja MP George Koimburi has been charged with forging academic certificates. The lawmaker, who appeared in Kiambu Law Court on Wednesday, was also charged with three counts of uttering false documents.
Mr Koimburi was arrested on Tuesday (February 18, 2025) outside one of his residences in Kiambu. He was taken to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters on Kiambu Road for interrogation and later detained at Kamukunji Police Station.
Initial reports suggested that his arrest was related to claims he made on Sunday that the state had spent close to Sh13 billion on opposition chief Raila Odinga’s failed bid to become the African Union Commission chairperson.
However, this allegation was not part of the charges presented in court on Wednesday by investigating officers.
During the court session, the prosecution team, led by Assistant Director of Public Prosecution Everlyn Onunga, told Kiambu Senior Principal Magistrate Mwanamkuu Mwakwambirwa that in 1994, Mr Koimburi deliberately forged a Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) certificate.
“Between the months of November and December 1994, at an unknown time and place within the Republic of Kenya, with intent to deceive, he forged a Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) certificate, namely a Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education Certificate, Serial No. 2015684, purporting it to be genuine and duly signed by the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC),” reads part of the charge sheet.
On the second count, Mr Koimburi is accused of forging a university project from the Kiambu-based Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).
The alleged forgery took place between September 2011 and April 2012, with the contested project listed as the African Universities Accession Project, Serial Number JKU/KENET/EI/2011-2012.
The prosecution stated that Mr Koimburi falsely claimed that the document had been issued by JKUAT.
The MP is also accused of forging a JKUAT academic excellence certificate from the School of Human Resource Development, purporting that it had been issued by the university between September 2011 and April 2012.
He faces a fourth count of submitting a forged Knec certificate to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) on March 8, 2021, purporting that the document was genuine and duly signed by the issuer.
Mr Koimburi is also accused of forging a JKUAT project, Serial Number JKU/KENET/EI/2011-2012/c6, purporting that it had been issued by the university.
The prosecution has lined up three witnesses to testify against him. Mr Koimburi pleaded not guilty to all the charges. The court released him on a Sh200,000 cash bail.
On Thursday (February 20), the court will rule on whether he will face an additional charge for failing to attend a court session after he was initially charged with forging academic certificates on April 26, 2021.
At that time, he had been released on a bond of Sh100,000 but allegedly never returned to court.
The court subsequently issued a warrant of arrest on September 16, 2021, after the legislator failed to honour the court summons and forfeited his cash bail.