Top NIS Officer Sacked Over Passports Bribery Scandal

The employment and labour relations court in Nairobi has upheld the sacking of a senior officer in the National Intelligence Service (NIS) on grounds of receiving bribes in Isiolo when vetting individuals who applied for Kenyan passports.

The intelligence body terminated the contract of Samson Gekura Tuguro on September 1, 2022, saying it had checked his bank accounts held in KCB, Co-operative Bank and Equity Bank and seen abnormal deposits in excess of Sh3.14 million in the accounts between November 2021 and May 2022.

The NIS said that it had established a link between Mr Tuguro and passport applicants and brokers, including one man named Said who had paid an inducement to get passport cleared by the petitioner.

Mr Tuguro filed the petition at the High Court on December 5, 2022 contesting his dismissal, citing malice and unfairness in the disciplinary hearing before the board of inquiry that recommended his sacking.

He told the court that he was appointed to the rank of Intelligence Officer I (NIS Level Six) in July 2016 after completing a senior intelligence officer basic course at the NIS academy for six months, before being promoted to senior intelligence officer II (Level Seven) in January 2017, and eventually to senior intelligence I (Level Eight) in July 2020.

Meanwhile, he had been posted in 2017 to Wajir County as the senior intelligence officer in charge of Eldas Sub-County, before being posted to Isiolo County in May 2018 as the county analyst. In February 2022, he was transferred to Turkana County to work in the same capacity.

In dismissing him, the NIS told the court that having been assigned the sensitive and critical role of vetting applicants for passport issuance, Mr Tuguro was engaged in what it termed offensive acts of soliciting and receiving bribes from officers and members of the public, causing a breach of security and bringing the NIS into serious disrepute.

“The court notes that from the bank statements provided before it, the 1st Respondent had a valid reason to dismiss the petitioner who had excess deposits than what he was earning and some deposits have clearly been linked to the customers he assisted to clear their passports,” said the court in its ruling.

“The burden of proof in civil matters is on the balance of probabilities and not beyond reasonable doubt. To this extent the court finds that the petitioner was linked to the offences of soliciting and receiving bribes as shown from the investigation reports.”

In his submissions, Mr Tuguro told the court that the disciplinary board had raised six allegations against him, but proceeded to try him for just one count of soliciting and receiving bribes from other officers or members of the public.

He added that the board also ignored his request to be provided with evidence, witnesses and complaints and allegations against him, instead pressuring him to plead guilty and ask for forgiveness in case he wanted to retain his job. The evidence included print-outs of his cellphone communications, messages and bank statements that were used to ask him questions without sharing the same with him.

Mr Tuguro also requested that the investigating officer in the matter be changed, citing conflict of interest, but this was ignored.

In the finding against Mr Tuguro’s claims, the court told him that he was working in a high security institution that was a quasi-disciplined force, “hence the rigours of civilian processes could in certain situations be strictly observed” and therefore there was reasonable procedural fairness in the hearing process that led to his dismissal.