Police officers in collaboration with the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) have arrested a man suspected of masquerading as an advocate during an operation to weed out quack lawyers in the country.
The suspect named Boniface Kirima was arrested on February 8,2024, in Nakuru County during the crackdown.
Nakuru East Police Commander Mohammed Wakwa revealed that Kirima was arrested and held pending investigations.
According to a police report, the suspect is alleged to have used fake documents to allegedly con many people in Nakuru.
LSK Practice Standards and Ethics Committee member Linda Kiome revealed that the fake lawyer has been involved in more than a hundred cases involving land in the area.
“We have seen title deeds that are supposedly held in favor of some clients and more than a hundred title deeds are in this office. Some of them have the original seal of the land registry,” she said.
Kiome further revealed that some of the title deeds also had fake seals dating from as far as 2016.
The title deeds collected were also all from prime areas within Nakuru Municipality.
LSK crackdown
The suspect was apprehended at Nakuru CBD’s Gate House building during the crackdown.
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He had been running a law firm by the name Ombati and Ombati Advocates.
Stephen Mbugua, a member of the LSK Rapid Action Team (RAT) revealed that they landed in Nakuru after receiving a tip-off.
The Rapid Action Team is mandated with safeguarding space of legal practice together with Practice Standard Committee.
“Through assistance of officers from Central Police station, we have established that this man is a fake advocate who has duped members of the public,” said Mbugua.
Mbugua further stated that the suspect will be arraigned on Friday February 9, 2024, for offenses related to masquerading as an advocate.
LSK affirmed that it shall continue with the crackdown across the country to sanitize their space as legal practitioners.
“We have sent a very strong warning to anyone masquerading as an advocate that your days are numbered,” said Mbugua.
Fake lawyers
The arrest comes following a crackdown by LSK to weed out fake lawyers in the country, with more than 30 fake lawyers being arrested.
In October 2023, a man named Brian Mwenda Njagi who had been masquerading as an advocate was unmasked by LSK.
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LSK in an October 13, statement revealed that Mwenda was not an advocate of the High Court.
Further, LSK stated that Mwenda had been presenting himself as a member of the society and went on to dupe unsuspecting Kenyans.
“The Branch wishes to notify all members of the society and of the public that Brian Mwenda Njagi is not an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, from the Society’s records, nor is he a member of the Branch,” the society noted.
LSK President Eric Theuri has vowed to continue with the fight against imposters in the field of law.
“We will not relent in this fight. The operation to rid masquerades will be intensive, thorough, and unrelenting,” he said in an earlier interview.