Why DPP dropped bid to introduce new evidence in Sh570m ivory case

Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji has dropped his bid to introduce new evidence from the US in a case where nine Kenyans are implicated in Sh570 million ivory seized in Thailand in 2015.

Through Malindi Assistant DPP Jami Yamina, Mr Haji withdrew the application and asked the court to proceed with evidence before it and conclude the matter.

“The case has taken too long to conclude and the international mutual legal assistance process is complex, takes long, open and unpredictable. We pray that the application to introduce the new evidence from the US be withdrawn,” said Mr Yamina.

The new evidence that the state wanted to introduce allegedly linked notorious Liberian poacher and ivory trafficker Moazu Kromar to two Kenyans, Abdulrahman Mahmoud Sheikh alias Said Juma Said and his son Sheikh Mahmoud Abdulrahman.

Other suspects in the case are Mr Mahmoud Abdulrahman Sheikh, Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) employee Ms Lucy Muthoni Kahoto,

Mr Musa Jacob Lithare, Mr Samuel Mbote Mundia, Mr Salim Juma, Mr Abbas Issa Rashid and Mr Kenneth Mwangi Njuguna.

The evidence linking Mr Kromar to the two Kenyans had been obtained from Monsur Mohamed Surur’ alias Mansur after he was extradited to the US in 2019.

Mr Surur has pleaded guilty in a US court to trafficking illegal ivory and rhino horns.

The case was set for hearing before Chief Magistrate Martha Mutuku but Mr Yamina informed the court that the DPP had decided to withdraw the application to allow the court to conclude the matter with the available evidence.

Mr Yamina maintained that the state is committed to ensuring that the case, which was first brought to court in March 2015, was heard and concluded without any further delay.

Defence lawyer Jared Magolo welcomed the withdrawal of the application, noting that it was “ambitious”.

Mr Magolo and other lawyers for the suspects had opposed the introduction of new evidence and accused the DPP of attempting to sneak in “manufactured” evidence to punish their client.

They had urged the court to reject the application on the grounds that it was made at the tail end of the case, describing it as unacceptable and a miscarriage of justice.

According to the new evidence, the man and his son received instructions from Mr Kromah to facilitate the ivory smuggling.

“Intelligence discloses that Mr Kromar used to receive instructions from accomplices in Thailand and thereafter transmit the same to Mr Mahmoud alias Juma and his son Mr Abdulrahman,” court documents show.

Mr Kromar also pleaded guilty to similar charges on March 27. He is charged alongside his Guinean accomplice Amara Cherif.

Mr Cherif, Mr Surur and Mr Kromar are accused of conspiring with others to transport, distribute, sell and smuggle about 190 kilos of rhino horns and at least 10 tonnes of ivory in East and West Africa valued at $3.4 and $ 4 million respectively.

The DPP had argued that the evidence obtained from the US linking Mr Kromar and Mr Susur would have helped the state prosecute the suspects.

Mr Mahmoud, his sons and six other Kenyans are facing ivory smuggling charges in Mombasa.

The case will be heard on September 5.

[email protected]