DCI summons Matiang'i lawyer Danstan Omari over raid claims
Lawyer Danstan Omari (second right) joined by fellow lawyers briefs media outside the Milimani Law Court on February 15, 2023 when the court declined to give orders to the police to gain access to CCTV footage from the home of former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi.
Renowned city lawyer Danstan Omari has been summoned by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Head of the Serious Crimes Unit, to shed light on claims of police officers raiding former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i's Karen home.
DCI Head of the Serious Crimes Unit--Mr Michael Sang wants the lawyer to provide information on claims that a “battalion” and or "garrison" of police officers raided Dr Matiang’i's home on February 8 and 9.
The lawyer has been ordered to avail himself at the DCI headquarters on Wednesday at 9:30am failure to which he will face prosecution for amongst others publication of false information contrary to Section 23 of the Computer Misuse and Cyber Crimes Act 2018.
The summon is part of the ongoing investigations to establish whether any unauthorised activities took place at the former CS's home on the said dates and whether false information was uttered in regard to the alleged raid.
“I have reasons to believe that you, Danstan Omari, an advocate of the High Court of Kenya, is connected to the offence and has information which can assist me in my investigations,” the summon reads.
Mr Omari has on several occasions insisted that the police surrounded the former CS’s home in Karen seeking to arrest him for unknown reasons.
On Wednesday last week, the lawyer again said the police of raided Dr Matiang’i’s home a second time without a court order in order to forcefully obtain CCTV footage on the alleged initial raid.
DCI boss Amin Mohamed confirmed the second raid saying they had obtained an order to effect the raid and obtain the footage for use in probing the alleged initial raid.
“This afternoon our officers obtained a search order to obtain CCTV recordings from the home of the former CS to establish the facts surrounding the alleged raid.”
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“Upon completing our investigation, we will take action if any officers from any security agency were involved in any unauthorized activities or if any false information was knowingly disseminated by anyone to the public,” said Mr Amin in a statement.
Mr Omari however said the police gained access to the home by breaking the front gate after which they confiscated the CCTV and left with it.
“The DCI has acted illegally in enforcing the break in, if not, he should provide evidence of the order. More than seven cars were captured by onlookers gaining access to the home, this time they cannot deny it, we have evidence of that,” explained the lawyer.
He added that some were armed and in their blue uniform.
“We cannot tell what they are after and we therefore maintain that what has happened is illegal unless they produce a court order to that effect.”
