Withdrawal of graft cases ‘exposes state’
Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji.
The move by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to withdraw corruption cases against certain individuals is not only threatening to rock the criminal justice system but could leave the state exposed to countersuits, experts have warned.
Various actors continue to pile pressure on the DPP to explain the criteria he is using to withdraw the cases as the notable beneficiaries are high-profile personalities who are President William Ruto’s allies.
Although DPP Noordin Haji has powers under Article 157 of the constitution to discontinue criminal proceedings against anyone subject to the permission of the court, there is fear that the repercussions of what he is doing could hurt taxpayers who will have to foot the bill for those let free.
Even worse, this trend could raise serious questions on not just the operations at the DPP’s office but also open a pandora’s box on how decisions to charge were being made when the war on corruption was at its peak two years ago before it suddenly crumbled.
“Haji seems to be revisiting all the cases where he hurriedly charged people based on claims brought by the former Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) George Kinoti. Some of these cases have been having difficulties moving in court,” Philip Murgor, who served as DPP between 2003 and 2005, told the Nation yesterday.
“Remember when Haji was appointed, Kinoti was more experienced in investigations and prosecutions than he was. The DCI was over-exerting his influence on the DPPs office so that is why there were so many arrests without enough evidence,” he added.
Kinoti and Haji fell out in March 2020 while in the middle of a protracted war on corruption that had endeared them to Kenyans who thought that something was being done on graft after seeing dozens of big fish who were untouchable before being arrested and taken to court.
The war, however, collapsed spectacularly after the DPP suddenly stopped charging graft cases brought to his office by Kinoti.
By this time politicians allied to Dr Ruto who had already fallen out with his boss, retired President Uhuru Kenyatta, had started complaining that they were being targeted.
With Kinoti out of the DCI having retired last month, and Dr Ruto assuming power as the President, eye brows are being raised that the DPP could be under pressure to let free the President’s allies.
Even more worrying is the fact that not all the cases that have been dropped were investigated by the DCI. Former Samburu Governor Moses Lenolkulal, who the DPP failed to set free on Thursday, was arrested courtesy of an investigation carried out by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commision (EACC).
“Impunity reloaded? But see no evil, hear no evil,” Martha Karua who was the Azimio One Kenya presidential running in the just concluded elections tweeted after the DPP withdrew Sh19 million graft case against former Malindi MP and Public Service CS nominee Aisha Jumwa.
The withdrawal came minutes after the DPP had also dropped charges against former Kenya Power managing director Ben Chumo and 10 others was quickly followed by an attempt to set free former Samburu governor Moses Lenolkulal who has since 2019 been in court for over Sh84 million graft.
The court, however, declined to set Lenolkulal free after Magistrate Thomas Nzyuki asked the DPP to make a formal application forcing him to make an about-turn yesterday leaving the former governor to undergo a full trial.
