NAIROBI, Kenya- A Nairobi lawyer has been arrested over the alleged presentation of forged documents before the Employment and Labour Relations Court and an attack on police officers during his arrest.
Police arrested Bernard Odero Okello of Bernard Odero and Company Advocates at his office in The Westery building in Westlands, Nairobi.
The arrest followed a directive by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions ordering officers at Parklands Police Station to charge him with two counts of forgery and uttering a false document.
The investigation arose from a complaint filed by three officials of the Kenya County Government Workers Union’s Nairobi branch.
Investigators said the officials discovered that documents bearing what appeared to be their signatures had been presented in Nairobi Employment and Labour Relations Court Cause No. E068 of 2022.
According to investigators, Odero presented a Change of Signatory and Fee Note Agreement that purportedly authorised the payment of Sh150 million to him after the conclusion of a case in which he said he had represented the complainants.
The three union officials disputed signing or executing the agreement.
The disputed documents and specimens containing the complainants’ known signatures were subsequently submitted to a forensic document examiner for analysis.
Authorities said the forensic examination concluded that the signatures appearing on the documents did not belong to the three complainants.
Following the investigation, the ODPP issued a directive on September 2, 2026, approving charges of forgery and uttering a false document against the lawyer.
Police said Odero was summoned to present himself at Parklands Police Station but failed to appear, prompting officers to begin searching for him.
He was later traced to his office in Westlands.
According to police, the lawyer threatened to jump from an eighth-floor window as officers attempted to arrest him.
He is also accused of resisting arrest and biting two police officers as they attempted to place him in handcuffs.
Police said additional charges of resisting arrest and assaulting police officers would be preferred against him alongside the two charges already approved by the ODPP.
Odero is expected to be processed and presented before court to answer the charges. The allegations against him remain subject to determination by the court.
