- Muhuri director Khelef Khalifa said when a crime is committed, it is the responsibility of the police to investigate and the DPP to take the matter to court.
- He said the police had to follow the law once Njeri arrived at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations headquarters for questioning.
Image: JOHN CHESOLI
Muslims for Human Rights have accused the Kenya Kwanza government of promoting impunity saying state corporations ignored court orders over the Sh17 billion oil saga.
Ann Njeri Njoroge, who is at the centre of the saga, had on November 8, obtained orders from the Mombasa High Court, for the arrest of the MT Haigui which carried the 100,000 metric tonnes of diesel, and barring Kenya Ports Authority and Kenya Pipeline from discharging the fuel consignment.
However, this was ignored and the ship was discharged on November 10 and 11, before it was allowed to leave the Mombasa port.
On Wednesday, Muhuri director Khelef Khalifa said this was contempt of court.
“This is despite KPA, KPC and Galana Energies all being served with the court orders. And why did the judge also not take any notice of that to reprimand the parties that ignored the court orders and order for arrests?” he said on phone.
He said when a crime is committed, it is the responsibility of the police to investigate and the DPP to take the matter to court.
He said the police had to follow the law once Njeri arrived at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations headquarters for questioning.
“Why was she not released after questioning and instead, she was abducted by the very people who are supposed to maintain law and order?” he posed.
He said KPA managing director Captain William Ruto displayed some document, the Bill of Lading, which he said had been forged by Njeri and were fake.
“He was on TV displaying documents saying they are fake. If it is true that the documents were fake, then that is criminal.
“The case would have been so easy. Arrest the person who forged the documents, which involved a lot of money, and then take them to court and charge them,” Khalifa said.
He said, however, the police failed to do that, raising questions.
Instead, the police took Njeri to a house in the middle of nowhere where they held her for four days, he said.
“Is that place where she was held a gazetted area where police detain suspects or is it a clandestine place?”
He said according to the law, any person arrested by police has to be taken to court within 24 hours after the arrest.
That rule was broken broken, he noted.
“Detaining her, chaining her and holding her incommunicado, while she was in state of shock, because the woman said she thought she was going to be killed, is in itself torture,” Khalifa said.
He said dumping a suspect at a place at night after holding them for four days is not the expected police behaviour.
“We are now getting information that somebody demanded Sh750 million. These are allegations that are very serious which should be addressed by those involved.”
The biggest problem is that police in Kenya sometimes take orders that are not from the police chain of command, he noted, which amounts to interference with investigations.
“I am sure those police officers who took her after interrogation and took her to a house in the middle of nowhere were acting under the orders of somebody somewhere. Because they cannot do it by themselves,” he said.
He said Muhuri is concerned that the police did not act in due process of the law.
Muhuri rapid response officer Francis Auma said he has been receiving strange calls from unknown persons since he appeared with Njeri at the Mombasa High Court on Tuesday.
“This is like they are trying to threaten me. I will not take this lying down,” Auma said.
He said they will sit down as an organisation and decide the next course of action.