A press release announcing an inquiry into the embezzlement of funds from Meru County government in Kenya, is FAKE.

The statement bears the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission’s (EACC) logo and is purportedly signed by the commission’s chief executive officer, Twalib Mbarak.

In the press release, Mbarak faults Meru County officials for the irregular payment of Ksh 2 billion to two companies.

“The commission established two companies Caperina Construction Co. Limited and Caperina Enterprises Limited which were not pre-qualified suppliers were paid for goods not supplied and services not rendered, among other allegations,” part of the press statement reads.

It lists five charges against five individuals who are ordered to appear at the EACC headquarters for “processing and arraignment in court”.

However, several things are off about the press release. The first one is the incorrect spelling of EACC CEO’s name. Instead of ‘Twalib Mbarak’, the press release spells his name as ‘Twarib Mbarak’.

The second red flag is Mbarak’s signature which does not resemble the one used in other press releases. The press release we are reviewing also omits the name of the organisation that Mbarak heads, which is not consistent with the format of other EACC press releases.

Equally, the positioning of the date on this particular press release is not consistent with other EACC statements where the date is inserted just above the signature.

In most EACC press releases, Mbarak leaves enough room for his signature, but with this one, the signature has been squeezed to fit on the first page.

We checked EACC’s page to see if they had posted the press release in question and found that the commission had flagged it as ‘fake’.

PesaCheck has looked into a press release with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission’s (EACC) logo announcing an inquiry into the embezzlement of funds in Meru County government in Kenya, and finds it to be FAKE.

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 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 Fact-Checker Naomi Wanjiku and edited by PesaCheck Chief Copy Editor Rose Lukalo. The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck Managing Editor Enock Nyariki.

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 an initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie, in partnership with a coalition of local African media and other civic watchdog organisations.