Court told Brian Mwenda used fake certificates to pose as High Court advocate
Kennedy Ogutu, a legal officer with the Judiciary, told Milimani Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina that the certificates used to allow him to practice law as an advocate were not signed by Chief Justice Martha Koome.
A Nairobi court heard on Wednesday that Brian Mwenda Njagi, who posed as a High Court advocate, used forged certificates to gain admission to practice law.
Kennedy Ogutu, a legal officer with the Judiciary, told Milimani Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina that the certificates used to allow him to practice law as an advocate were not signed by Chief Justice Martha Koome.
Ogutu was testifying in a case where Mwenda is charged with making a fake certificate for admission to practice law as an advocate.
He has since denied six counts of making a false document, uttering a false document and identity theft.
In his evidence, Ogutu recalled that on October 3, 2023, Chief Registrar Ann Amadi received a letter from the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) who requested to confirm documents in regard to certificates of registration of Brian Mwenda as an advocate.
"Upon checking their records, they discovered that Brian Mwenda was never admitted to practice law as an advocate in the year 2022," he testified.
He added that the same document on which the signature was appended had the signature of former Chief Justice Evan Gicheru, who was by then deceased.
Gicheru died on December 26, 2020, at the age of 79. He was Kenya's Chief Justice for eight years, having been appointed by former President Mwai Kibaki in 2003.
The legal officer told the court that no celebration of admission of advocates to the bar was conducted in the year Mwenda purported to have been admitted to the bar as an advocate.
Ogutu was, however, stood down until Thursday to provide more electronic documents before producing the same as exhibits in the case.
Mwenda is said to have committed the offence between August 30, 2022, and March 3, 2023, at an unknown place within the country.
The court heard on October 9, 2023, at the law firm of Micheka Omwenga and Company Advocates' offices, Mwenda forged a practising certificate for the year 2023.
Earlier, defence lawyers led by John Khaminwa and Danstan Omari had opposed the participation of the Law Society of Kenya president in the proceedings as victim.
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