A Magistrates court will today rule on whether former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has a case to answer based on the amended charge sheet in a Sh24m graft case.
The High Court last year (2024) reinstated the graft case saying the Magistrate made a mistake by acquitting Sonko and his co-accused when it relied on the original charge sheet instead of the amended one.
Justice Nixon Sifuna in setting aside Sonko's acquittal said the case will be retried by a Magistrate other than the trial Magistrate Douglas Ogoti.
The new magistrate, he said, shall start by making a fresh ruling on the basis of the evidence that's already on the record on whether the accused persons have a case to answer.
The then-trial Magistrate Douglas Ogoti acquitted Sonko, Anthony Ombok and ROG Security Ltd in 2022 on the basis that the charge sheet presented by the DPP was defective.
Sonko had been accused of embezzling funds from the county government by awarding dubious contracts.
The money was allegedly wired back to his accounts and deposited in various parts of the country on diverse dates.
Dissatisfied, the DPP appealed.
The DPP in his appeal said Ogoti made a mistake by failing to analyse the evidence adduced by the 19 prosecution witnesses.
They also said that the magistrate, in making the judgment, relied on an old charge sheet that was filed on January 27, 2020, and disregarded the amended and substituted one filed on September 7, 2020.
Sonko was however opposed to the appeal asking the court to uphold the decision of Ogoti.
But Sifuna in his decision said Magistrate Ogoti "fell into grave error when he used the old charge sheet in arriving at a decision on the totality of the evidence."
"It's akin to using the wrong marking scheme to mark examination papers. On this alone, the said ruling falls flat," he added.
He said once the DPP had amended the charge sheet, reference could no longer be made to the original charge sheet.
"That charge sheet became spent and as dead as a dodo. It could not be relied on," said Sifuna.
In allowing the appeal by the DPP, Sifuna set aside the ruling by Ogoti that found Sonko and his co-accused have no case to answer.
The Judge at the same time declined to suspend his decision as requested by John Khaminwa who was on record for Sonko and the team.
