MP Rigathi Gachagua asks court for passport ahead of Dubai trip
Mathira Member of Parliament Rigathi Gachagua being escorted by police officers into Milimani Law Court in Nairobi on July 26, 2021.
Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua wants the anti-corruption court to release his passport to allow him to travel to Dubai for an official function.
Mr Gachagua has sought the release of the travel documents to enable him to attend his parliamentary duties outside the country.
His lawyer Gibson Kimani on Friday told Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Rose Makungu that the MP is scheduled to fly to Dubai with a parliamentary committee.
The travel documents were deposited in court last month as a condition for his release on bail pending determination of the Sh7 billion graft case facing him and nine others.
The magistrate directed that the court will give its ruling on the application on Monday.
During the virtual mention of the case, the Defence lawyers informed the court that the documentary evidence furnished to them by the investigators is not complete. The lawyers said several pages are missing.
The case had been called for a pre-trial conference to confirm whether the prosecution side has supplied the Defence with all witness statements and documentary evidence so that the case can proceed to a hearing.
Magistrate Makungu stated that since the investigators have not supplied some pages of the documentary evidence, the case will be mentioned again virtually on October 6 to confirm compliance on disclosure of evidence.
At the same, the court allowed an application by another accused person, Lawrence Kimaru, to substitute his cash bail of Sh500,000 with a bond similar amount.
The magistrate noted there was no objection to the application and that when the court was granting the accused bail it had given them the option of depositing cash bail or bonds and sureties.
Mr Kimaru's lawyer Eliud Senteu said the cash bail was borrowed from friends and to enable his client to refund he intends to deposit a surety of the same amount.
MP Gachagua is facing six corruption charges on the acquisition of Sh7.3 billion, which is alleged to be proceeds of crime, between the years 2013 and 2020 through business dealings in the government.
The charges include conspiracy to commit an offence of corruption, fraudulent acquisition of public funds, conflict of interest, money laundering and acquisition of proceeds of crime.
His eight co-accused persons include Mathira NG-CDF manager William Wahome Mwangi, who is also chairman of Tana Water Works Development Agency (TWWDA).
The other accused persons include Ann Nduta Ruo, Jullianne Jahenda Makaa, Samuel Murimi Ireri, Grace Wambui Kariuki, Lawrence Kimaru, Irene Wambui Ndigiriri, David Reuben Nyangi Nguru and Rapid Medical Supplies Ltd. They are all out on bail.
