Why former MP Pavel Oimeke is facing three years in jail

A Nairobi anti-corruption court on Tuesday, March 28  sentenced former Bonchari Member of Parliament (MP) Robert Oimeke to three years in prison after he was convicted for receiving KSh200,000 bribe.

In his ruling, anti-corruption chief magistrate Peter Ooko said Oimeke should serve the jail term or pay a fine of KSh1 million.

The court on the other hand acquitted the MP of charges of soliciting for a bribe.

Oimeke, who was at the time serving as the Director General of Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), had in the first count been charged with receiving KSh200,000 bribe in order to authorize the unsealing and opening of a filling station in Homa Bay County, which had been closed for non-compliance with regulations.

Receiving bribe

He was consequently charged with a second count that while employed by EPRA, he requested a financial advantage of KSh500,000 from a trader via Signal private messenger app.

During his trial, an officer from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) told the court that he seized KSh200,000 from Oimeke suspected to be a bribe on 12th December 2020.

The money, Mike Mbuvi said, had been handed to Oimeke by Wycliffe Odhiambo, the petroleum dealer whose filling station had been closed for non-compliance.