FALSE: This letter from Interpol seeking the arrest of three Kenyan judges and a lawyer is fake
The letter claims that Interpol has requested for the extradition of four Kenyans for allegedly receiving bribes in the case against the Akasha brothers
A tweet containing a letter with Interpol’s letterhead allegedly asking for the extradition of three Kenyan judges and a lawyer over bribery allegations in the case against the Akasha brothers is FALSE.
The letter in question thanks the Directorate of Criminal Investigation for its cooperation and participation in the successful arrest and extradition of Ibrahim and Baktash Akasha, and their subsequent trial and sentencing in the Southern District of New York.
The letter states that Interpol is requesting the Director of Criminal Investigations to extradite judges Dora Chepkwony, Enock Chacha Mwita and Aggrey Muchelule as well as lawyer Cliff Ombeta over allegations that they received bribes from the Akasha brothers in order to interfere with and block their extradition to the US to stand trial.
The Akasha brothers were arrested in November 9, 2014 to face charges of manufacturing and distribution of illegal narcotics, including conspiring to ship 99 kilograms of heroin into the United States, for which they were sentenced to serve time in federal prison.
On January 11, 2020, Judge Victor Marrero of the Manhattan Federal Court handed Ibrahim Akasha a 23 year sentence, while Baktash Akasha got 25 years.
However, the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government has dismissed the letter purported to be from Interpol, terming it as fake, and urging the public to disregard it.
Additionally, there is no information about Interpol seeking assistance to extradite the four persons mentioned in the letter either on their website under the wanted persons page, or on its Facebook and Twitter pages.
At the moment, there are 7 Kenyans who are listed as wanted by Interpol and whose public Red Notices are in circulation, none of whom are the persons mentioned in the letter.
Moreover, Cliff Ombeta, one of the individuals named in the letter, has dismissed it on Twitter.
In February 22, 2019, PesaCheck looked into the authenticity of another letter allegedly from Interpol calling for the arrest of nine Kenyans on charges of drug trafficking and found it to be fake.
PesaCheck has looked into the claim that Interpol has sent a letter to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations in Kenya seeking the arrest of three Kenyan judges and a lawyer and finds it to FALSE.
This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.
By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds.
Have you spotted what you think is fake news or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content.
This fact-check was written by PesaCheck Researcher Diana Kendi, was edited by PesaCheck Deputy Editor Ann Ngengere and was approved for publication by PesaCheck Managing Editor Eric Mugendi.
PesaCheck is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It was co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, and is being incubated by the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator: Code for Africa. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water / sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org.
PesaCheck is a joint initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with additional funding support from the International Budget Partnership (Kenya) and Twaweza, in partnership with a coalition of local media organisations, and the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ)
