Gachagua on Sh200mn court ruling: Freedom is coming

Kenya Kwanza running mate Rigathi Gachagua has condemned the High court decision to forfeit Sh200 million to the state after failing to explain how he acquired the wealth from government agencies.

In 2020, the High Court froze Sh200 million belonging to Mr Gachagua pending a petition by a State agency for the money to be forfeited to the government. 

Mr Gachagua said that the judgement by Justice Esther Maina, in his case against the Asset Recovery Agency, did not come as a surprise to him.

"The Judge was biased against us from the word go and threw caution to the wind by conducting a sham trial. Against the rules of evidence, she refused our application to cross examine the Investigator in order to test the veracity of his allegations," Mr Gachagua said, adding that Justice Maina ruled that all evidence should be through affidavits and rejected oral evidence.

"She refused my request to call witnesses to testify on how I got my money.  She has made a ruling relying solely on the allegations by the State without giving us an opportunity to put the allegations to test as per the known practice all over the world. The Judge again declined our request to highlight our submissions against the known and accepted practice all over the world," he said.

Mr Gachagua further lamented that the judgement was hastily rushed ten days before the elections in a futile attempt to "undermine his candidature in the coming elections and dent his sterling performance in the running mates debate last week."

He added: "I have instructed my Lawyers to immediately file an appeal in the Court of Appeal to stay the orders and set aside the judgement. Freedom is coming."