Man charged with issuing fake certificates to lab technicians countrywide

By , K24 Digital
On Wed, 16 Mar, 2022 12:02 | 2 mins read
Nick Otieno Odondi at Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi. PHOTO/SHEILA MUTUA

A 35-year-old man has been charged with conning medical laboratory technicians across the country and issuing them with fake certificates.

Nick Otieno Odondi who has been charged at Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi is alleged to have committed the offence while pretending that he was an officer of the Kenya Medical Laboratory and Technicians and Technologists board.

"You are charged that on diverse dates between 1st January 2016 and 28th February 2022 within the Republic of Kenya jointly with others not before the court with intent to defraud, falsely represented yourself as an officer of the Kenya Medical Laboratory Technicians and Technologists Board (KMLTTB) a fact you knew to be false" read the charge sheet in count one

In Count Two of the charge sheet, Nick is alleged to have used fraudulent tricks to induce Medical Laboratory Technicians and Technologists around the country to send money to his MPesa account by falsely pretending that he was in a position to register them with the Kenya Medical Laboratory and Technologists Board (KMLTTB).

The accused who is a former employee of the board is also charged with obtaining Ksh500,000 from Medical Laboratory Technicians and Technologists around the country.

According to a police report seen by K24 Digital, KMLTTB realised, in 2015, that one of its employees Nick Odondi had been extorting money from Laboratory technicians across the country and issuing them with fake certificates without sitting for qualification exams.

Consequently, the board terminated his employment the same year.

"Despite being terminated, he continued to obtain money from the Laboratory technicians on the pretence that he was still an employee of the board and registered them without sitting for the board exam which is mandatory before being allowed to practice," the police report read in part.

Mpesa transactions from the victims were obtained from Safaricom Limited indicating the amount lost by the victims to Nick Odondi and a letter from the board indicating that he had been removed from the board.

He pleaded not guilty before Chief Magistrate Wendy Micheni and was released on cash ail of Ksh100,000.