- Mbarak said the commission usually writes to persons under their radar informing them in advance that officers would be visiting them over a particular issue.
- He said investigating officers are also normally in pairs for purposes of accountability on both sides.
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Most individuals extorting money from the public purporting to be EACC officers are professional conmen, Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission chief executive officer Twalib Mbarak has said.
"That's what is happening, they are very smart they have business cards even one conman that we arrested told us very openly he is a professional conman His children are in school even in university he is making good money and even if we release him he will go back to be a conman," Mbarak said.
He spoke on Tuesday while appearing before the National Dialogue Committee at the Bomas of Kenya.
The antigraft czar had been put on the spot by Nyamira Senator Okong'o Omogeni to explain what the commission was doing to curb widespread corruption in counties.
Omogeni claimed Nyamira Governor Amos Nyaribo was at one point duped into launching empty boxes in the pretext that it was medicine.
"It's been a month, we have not seen any action from EACC. How long does it take for EACC to respond to such a crime that is so glaring," Omogeni asked.
But Mbarak said most of the fishy undertakings being done across the country by people purporting to be EACC officers are educated but jobless Kenyans looking for a way to put food on the table.
He said a case in point was when a female MP and former member of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee visited his office to report that a senior regional EACC officer was extorting them.
Mbarak said they asked for the officer's name and contacts but a search indicated that he was not an EACC member of staff.
"The MP was dealing with a conman," he said.
"And we tell people, if somebody says that he is an EACC officer check with us," he added.
To avert such incidences, Mbarak said the commission usually writes to persons under their radar informing them in advance that officers would be visiting them over a particular issue.
He said investigating officers are also normally in pairs for purposes of accountability on both sides.
"We don't allow one officer to do investigations, if somebody says this person has taken a bribe, it becomes difficult to confirm who is right and who is wrong," Mbarak said.
Bishop David Oginde, the Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission chairperson said the commission does its work in a very objective manner.
He said before forwarding a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions for action, the case undergoes rigorous processes to ensure it meets the threshold for prosecution.
His response arose from a question by Senator Omogeni on why no high-profile cases have been prosecuted.
"If you check very keenly, most of the cases that we forward to the ODPP rarely fail or are withdrawn or dropped," he said.
Mbarak added that as of now, they have charged nine sitting and former governors and are investigating 29 others.
"Some of the questions that you have raised here are laced with political connotations and I cannot blame you because I know you are politicians," he said.
Tuesday marked the end of the National Dialogue Committee's sittings of receiving petitions from the public and other stakeholders.