- Chief Magistrate Eunice Nyutu will deliver the ruling today.
- A magistrate court will also proceed with the hearing of an inquest into the death of Keroche heiress Tecra Muigai today.
Image: The Star
Anti-corruption court will today render its ruling on whether former Treasury CS Henry Rotich and eight others have a case to answer or not, in the Sh63 billion graft case.
Chief Magistrate Eunice Nyutu will deliver the ruling today.
He and others are accused of defrauding the government USD 501,829,769.43 (Sh63 billion) by unlawfully initiating and entering into construction, financing, and insurance agreements for the development of Arror and Kimwarer multipurpose dam projects.
He faced this charge alongside Kennedy Nyakundi, Jackson Njau Kinyanjui and five others.
In November, Rotich asked the court to acquit him saying no money was lost in the financing and development of the Arror and Kimwarer dams project.
In his submissions before the court, Rotich through Senior Counsel Kioko Kilukumi told Trial Magistrate Eunice Nyutu that even the Assets and Recovery Agency has not been able to trace and freeze any stolen money because it was all based on falsehoods.
He said the funds allegedly branded as stolen or termed by the prosecution as improper benefits were payments to an Italian export credit agency for providing insurance cover to financiers, payments to lenders for interest, payments of commitment and loan structuring fees; and payments to the contractor for mobilization to the site, all genuinely meant to facilitate implementation of the said projects.
Rotich in his capacity as Treasury CS was entitled by law to raise a loan on behalf of the government to finance the two projects
The prosecution in the case called 49 witnesses and closed its case on October 31, 2023. Out of the 49 witnesses, the prosecution led evidence from eight witnesses mostly from KVDA.
Death inquest hearing of Tecra Muigai proceeds
A magistrate court will also proceed with the hearing of an inquest into the death of Keroche heiress Tecra Muigai today.
Keroche Breweries CEO Tabitha Karanja is expected to continue with her testimony before principal magistrate Zainab Abdul.
In October, Tabitha told an inquest court that she suspected Omar Lali could have had a hand in her daughter’s death because she could have refused to continue financing him.
She told an inquest into the mysterious death of Keroche heiress Tecra Wangari Muigai that it was Lali’s greed that caused her daughter’s death.
She was recalled in court after Lali made the application in a bid to cross-examine her regarding her testimony in court saying when she testified, he was absent and was also not represented.