Kenyan police have detained a fake lawyer named Brian Mwenda who has won 26 cases while posing as an advocate for the High Court of Kenya. According to Nigerian Tribune, the lawyer represented all of these clients before magistrates, justices on the Court of Appeal, and judges on the High Court.
Mwenda successfully defended clients and presented cases in the Kenyan legal system during the course of his astoundingly lengthy career as a licensed attorney. It was only after his most recent arrest that the judiciary started finding out the fraud.
According to the Kenyan entertainment news website Mpasho, the imposter, Brian Mwenda, was caught by authorities while still acting as an attorney and having previously won an incredible 26 cases in the high court of Kenya.
Even more astonishing is the fact that Mwenda managed to practice law in the presence of High Court Judges, Magistrates, and Court of Appeal Judges, all of whom had no reason to question his qualifications until his arrest.
Preliminary investigations into this shocking case suggest that the fraudulent lawyer employed a widespread international fraud scheme known as Business Email Compromise (BEC).
Brian Mwenda exploited the inactivity of a genuine advocate’s professional status. His initial contact with the secretariat was made under the pretense of applying for payment of his Practicing Certificate (PC). However, his initial application was rejected due to incorrect email credentials.
Undeterred, Mwenda seized unauthorized access to the account, altering his profile picture and workplace details to further conceal his true identity. He even submitted an application for a practicing certificate and made the corresponding payment. However, this deceptive path soon reached an impasse as he was required to provide specific documents, including a certificate of business incorporation. This security protocol was instrumental in exposing the imposter’s fraudulent activities.
Brian Mwenda’s charade came to light when the Law Society of Kenya’s (LSK) Nairobi Branch received complaints from the public. Promptly, the Nairobi Branch sprang into action, unequivocally declaring that Mwenda was not a legitimate advocate. They emphasized that he lacked the necessary license to practice as a lawyer in Kenya.
The official account for the Nairobi Branch of the Law Society of Kenya took to social media, particularly X (formerly Twitter), to address the matter directly. Their statement left no room for ambiguity: “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, neither is he a member of the Branch.”
Subsequently, Brian Mwenda was taken into custody for further investigation into his audacious impersonation of a legal professional.
The Law Society of Kenya has provided insight into the elaborate ruse employed by Mwenda to infiltrate Kenya’s legal profession. According to a report in Ghana Web, Mwenda accessed the Law Society of Kenya’s portal through fraudulent means, engaging in criminal activities. He identified an account with a name corresponding to his own, tampered with the account’s details, and audaciously uploaded his own photograph. The aim of this audacious act was clear: to insinuate himself into Kenya’s legal profession undetected.
The Law Society of Kenya disclosed that Mwenda had stolen the identity of a legitimate lawyer, Brian Mwenda Ntwiga. It was the real Brian Mwenda Ntwiga who initially alerted the Secretariat after discovering that he could no longer access the system with his credentials.
Following this revelation, the Law Society of Kenya sprang into action. An emergency meeting was convened to address the alarming situation. The Society’s IT department conducted a thorough analysis, revealing that Brian Mwenda, the impostor, had seized the identity of Brian Mwenda Ntwiga. The legitimate lawyer had officially been admitted to the Bar on the 5th day of August 2022, and his correct email address was recorded as part of the process, with an account created for him in the Advocates portal.
Furthermore, the Society reached out to Advocate Brian Mwenda Ntwiga, who confirmed that he had not sought a practicing certificate since his admission. His reason was that he had been employed at the Office of the Attorney General and thus did not require a Practicing Certificate. This crucial piece of information reaffirmed the depth of deception orchestrated by the impostor, Brian Mwenda.