Anti-Corruption Court Chief Magistrate Douglas Ogoti has challenged all agencies mandated to deal with corruption to address the issue of legislative gaps.
Ogoti said though agencies like EACC and the DCI have done a commendable job in pursuing corruption cases, there exist numerous gaps that have crippled their efforts.
Ogoti said for instance most of the corruption cases are handled in the old fashioned way despite having a new constitution in place.
He said there is a great need for parliamentarians to review how corruption cases should be handled even as the country steps up war on graft.
He was speaking during the commemoration of 10 years of the new constitution dubbed 'a decade of implementing chapter 6'.
The magistrate said for instance with regards to the leadership and integrity act, there are very few offences that are defined as a scenario that has left loopholes for people to loot public resources.
He said to expedite corruption cases in the courts, the Judiciary had resolved that before any suspect is arraigned in court, they must be furnished with all documents including files of their offences and evidence against them.
He said this will go a long way in building a culture of integrity within the judicial process.
“In many instances, many suspects have been presented in court without being furnished with evidence against them. We want to be predictable as courts by allowing the suspects to know their charges, the evidence against them, start date for their trial and when the trial concludes,” Ogoti said.
He added, “The relevant bodies must then disclose witness statements, charge sheet, criminal records where relevant, expert evidence, relevant transcripts of interviews, video, audio recordings and photographs before files are accepted in courts”.
Ogoti said the EACC and DCI going forward will have to ensure that at the time of filing of the charge(s) in the Anti-Corruption Court, they simultaneously file a copy of a duly executed inventory as above guided.
“It is upon the satisfaction of the above requirements that the plea will be accepted for registration and only then will a matter be fixed for plea taking,” Ogoti said.
According to the Magistrate, such disclosure will contribute to the fair administration of criminal justice by minimising the undesirable effect of surprise at the trial and contribute to the accurate determination of guilt or innocence.
“Failure to disclose significance evidence to the defense in numerous cases has led to reversal and dismissal of cases,” he said.
Ogoti said integrity demands truthfulness and honesty and such truth must be told even when ugly.
Ogoti further said the courts have been accused of dragging most of the corruption cases but it is the volumes of documents that are presented as evidence that consume a lot of time.
“This is why we are challenging the EACC and the DCI to reduce the complexity of the documents to minimise the time taken in the judicial process,” he said.
Currently under the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act, before a case is presented to the court, the investigations file must first be presented to DPP with recommendations to give consent to prosecute.
This implies that by the time a file is being handed over to the DPP and the DPP gives consent to prosecute, the investigations ought to be complete with the prosecutors being presumed to be in possession of all the evidence forwarded to the DPP for his consideration to prosecute.