A Nairobi court has ruled that the decision by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Renson Ingunga to withdraw graft charges against former officials of the Geothermal Development Corporation (GDC) was not in the public interest.
While rejecting the application to withdraw the charges against Mr. Nicholas Karume Wike, Peter Ayodo Ominda and former company secretary Praxedes Saisi, Chief Anti-Corruption Magistrate Thomas Nziuki said the public interest and the interest of doing justice in the case lay in the case being heard. The matter is on merits as ordered by the Supreme Court in a ruling last year.
The DPP argued that a review of the evidence revealed that there was insufficient evidence to support accusations that drilling rig movements at the Meningai site were as exaggerated as claimed.
But Mr Nziuki wondered what had changed after evidence showed that the DPP had taken the matter to the High Court and won upholding of the charges.
“My considered opinion is that the DPP’s request to withdraw the charges against the accused under Section 87 (A) of the Code of Criminal Procedure is not based on any proper reason and is aimed at nullifying the Supreme Court’s ruling,” the court said. .
Mz Nzyoki ordered the case to be heard on June 25.
the case
The officials were charged in 2015 alongside former managing director Silas Masinde Simiyo and four other members of the company's tender committee.
They were accused of illegally awarding a tender worth Sh42.7 million to Bonfide Clearing and Forwarding Ltd, at an inflated cost that was more than 100 percent from the previous year.
The drilling rig movements were purchased at Sh19.5 million per rig, the previous year.
The DPP argued that on review of the evidence, there was insufficient evidence to confirm that the price of the rig moves was inflated because it was not clear whether GDC had conducted a market survey to determine the value of the rig moves and whether the same had been communicated To the evaluation committee.
According to the DPP, the process was only duly followed as the evaluation committee failed to compare market prices before recommending awarding the tender to Bonafide Clearing and Forwarding Ltd.
The EACC opposed the withdrawal and said it was in the interests of justice that the matter be brought to its logical conclusion as directed by the Supreme Court.
Hassan Mahmoud, the investigator, said in an affidavit: “The reasons raised by the Director of Public Prosecutions for withdrawing the charges, specifically the aspect related to market surveying, were examined in the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court and the courts saw them as triable issues.” In court.
Powers of DPP
The Chief Justice noted that the Director of Public Prosecutions had said in the High Court that there was sufficient evidence to support the charges against him, but he changed his mind nine years later.
“The rare contest between the DPP and the EACC before this court is inconsistent with the Supreme Court’s ruling. He said the DPP's sudden change of position is an unjustified deviation from his previous submissions recorded before the high courts which upheld the charges.
The judge noted that the powers of the Director of Public Prosecutions to stop criminal charges are not absolute but are subject to court permission.
This is the second case in which the DPP has clashed with the East African Anti-Corruption Commission over plans to withdraw graft charges against high-profile individuals.
In a different case, the EACC opposed plans to drop charges against former Kenya Pipeline Corporation (KPC) managing director Charles Tanui, former KPC chief engineer Josephat Kipkoche Sirma, as well as Mr Elias Maina Karume, chief technical director.
The case against Mr Tanui and his co-accused has since been suspended, pending an appeal by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in the High Court.