A Nairobi court has given DPP Renson Igonga the last chance to avail witnesses in the Sh357million graft case against ex-Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko and 16 others.
Chief Magistrate Eunice Nyuttu gave the DPP the last opportunity to redeem the case which has stagnated in court for four years.
Nyuttu took issue with the conduct of two prosecutors whom she accused of “tactfully absconding the case and employing a certain pattern of adjourning the case through short text messages and sending emails to the court and lawyer for EACC.”
The Magistrate adjourned the case to November 22, 2023.
Nyuttu said the DPP’s office has frustrated both the court and the accused who for the last four years have attended court with hopes of getting justice “only to be returned home without having justice being done.”
The DPP also wanted to withdraw the case against KRA chairman Antony Mwaura and his wife from the case and leave Sonko but the magistrate rejected the application.
One of the suspects, Samuel Mwangi Ndung’u, a suspended employee of the Nairobi City County, tearfully recounted how her mother succumbed to illness when he could not support her financially.
"As I stand before you, I'm innocent so are my co-accused although we have been accused of pocketing Sh357 million which we didn’t,” Ndung’u told the magistrate.
He said he has read all the 11,000 pages of witness statements and he and others have not been implicated at all.
"Every day we come with the hope of proceeding with the case. It's four years and the prosecutors have hard rock hearts, they care less whether we get justice or not," Ndung’u lamented.
He informed the court that he helplessly watched his mother succumb to sickness.
“I wish I had a share of the Sh357 million we are accused of defrauding the public. I would have assisted my late mother and supported my family which is wallowing in poverty,” Ndung’u disclosed.
He urged the court to invoke its jurisdiction to protect its sanctity and safeguard their rights and protect public interest.
Defence lawyer Assa Nyakundi for Sonko pressed for the case to be terminated for want of prosecution.
“Since the case begun four years ago, only four witnesses have testified. We have 37 more to be called. At this pace, this case will last in court for over ten years before it is concluded,” Nyakundi said.
The magistrate heard Sonko and his 16 co-accused are innocent as witnesses have exonerated them from blame.
“Sonko, Ndung’u, Wambua Ndaka, Edwin Kariuki Murimi, Preston Mwandiki Miriti and the others come to sit in court and nothing happens. Prosecutors abscond court. Terminate the caser for want of prosecution,” Nyakundi prayed.
But instead of terminating the case, justice Nyuttu castigated the DPP’s office for failing to take action against the two prosecutors allocated the case against Sonko.
The former Nairobi governor is charged alongside Peter Mbugua Kariuki, Patrick Mwangangi, Ndaka, Andrew Nyasiego.
Others are Lawrence Mwangi Mukuru, Hardi Enterprises Limited, Toddy Civil Engineering Limited, Antony Mwaura Ng’ang’a, Roses Njeri Ng’ang’a (who are husband and wife).
Arbab Auto Limited, ROG Security Ltd, High Energy Petroleum Ltd and Antony Otieno Ombok alias Jamal are also respondents in the case.
Nyakundi and other defence lawyers urged the court to terminate the case and discharge all the accused as “their rights have been violated.”
In her ruling, Nyuttu said the tempo and speed with which the accused were arrested and presented in court has since died out.
She noted even though the prosecutor Annette Wangia was said to be sick, nobody from the DPP’s office has come to court to explain she is unwell and neither has any medical record been presented to court detailing her sickness.
A lawyer from EACC told the court she had summoned witnesses but the prosecutors were absent.
But the DPP applied to withdraw the case against Antony Mwaura Ng’ang’a and his wife Rose Njeri Ng’ang’a, both directors of Hardi Enterprises Ltd.
They are charged with unlawfully acquiring Sh357,390,229 from the Nairobi County Government in respect of tender number NCC/ WEDE and NR/276/2017-2018 for hire of heavy equipment and vehicles.
The couple allegedly received the public funds on diverse dates between July 5, 2018 and March 28, 2019.
Ng’ang’a and Njeri are also charged with money laundering relating to Sh55,800,000 they allegedly received from the NCC.
Nyuttu will rule on November 23, 2023, whether or not to allow the DPP to terminate the case against Ng’ang’a and his wife Njeri.
The couple, Sonko and ten others are also charged with money laundering by allegedly receiving Sh3 million while having reasons to believe it was proceeds of crime.
All the 17 face a total of 19 graft charges.
They face a common charge of conspiring to corruptly embezzle public funds to a tune of Sh357,390,299.95 from Nairobi City County Government between May 24, 2018 and March 28, 2019.
Ombok and ROG have been charged with fraudulent acquisition of public funds and money laundering involving Sh34million.
The accused have denied the charges and are out on a bond of Sh15 million.