Police from the Transnational Organized Crime detectives are holding 15 suspects in connection with the passport issuance corruption scandal at Nyayo House, Nairobi.
This follows an investigation into claims of graft at the place.
In the ongoing operation which was launched on Monday, October 2, 2023, six Department of Immigration Services staff including an intern and nine suspected brokers have been arrested, while manhunt for more suspects who got wind of the operation and run into hiding continues.
In the classic case of grand corruption, members of the public and foreigners seeking passports and work permits respectively have been forced to part with huge sums of money to access services, after the rogue officials took advantage of a temporary system downtime to satisfy their sheer greed for extras, police say.
The crooked officials went ahead to plant brokers around the facility, to entice and collect funds from desperate applicants with emergency cases, as well as persons of means who were able to influence special treatment at the expense of ordinary Kenyans who procedurally tendered their applications.
After days of meticulous forensic analysis and profiling of the identified suspects, the detectives raided the Department of Immigration Services on Monday, October 2 where five suspects (four staff and a broker) were whisked away for interrogation.
Confronted by the facts of the allegations laid against him, one of the suspects unfortunately fell ill and was rushed to AAR Hospital along Kiambu Road where he was diagnosed with heart attack and high sugar levels.
He was released on bail to continue with treatment as detectives sought custodial orders for the rest of the suspects at Kahawa Law Courts to complete investigations.
The suspect has since recuperated.
In the subsequent operations at Nyayo House and the Central Business District, another staff member and eight brokers were arrested, police said.
A trail of transactions by the suspects on their mobile money and bank accounts indicating how money was remitted to the immigration officers and their proxies has since been obtained, with the view of presenting water-tight evidence during prosecution.
The arrest of the 15 comes barely six weeks after four other suspects were arrested on August 25 for soliciting bribes in the issuance of the passports.
Their arrest was preceded by a series of impromptu visits to Nyayo House by Interior Cabinet Secretary Prof Kithure Kindiki, who sought to find out why there accumulated a backlog of over 40,000 passport applications and establish measures of clearing the same.
Kindiki had noted that despite some immigration officers working tirelessly to attend to the citizens on the basis of “first come first served” (as should be), the rogue ones who run a well-organized criminal ring was a let-down, a cartel he swore to sweep away.
As further investigations heighten, appropriate charges are being preferred, police said.
