Court dismisses application to stop former minister Amos Kimunya’s case

Amos Kimunya

NAIROBI, KENYA: Judge Weldon Korir has dismised application by Midlands Ltd seeking to stop criminal proceedings against ex- Lands Minister Amos Kimunya.
The Judge said that the case that has been presented in court will continue on priority basis.
Midlands Limited went to court seeking to have the criminal trial against the former Kipipiri MP thrown out on grounds that the proceedings are illegal.
The company sued the Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko, The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and the Chief Magistrate's Court in a matter that was before Justice Weldon Korir.
Through lawyer Tom Macharia, the firm wanted the court to stop criminal proceedings against Kimunya dropped.
Midlands Limited is a food processing firm involved in the controversial allocation of a Sh60 Million piece of land that led to criminal charges against Kimunya.
The firm believes the court proceedings are meant to threaten and coerce the company to surrender the land which, the court heard, was lawfully allocated.
"The prosecution has an ulterior motive  to deprive the company its property and investments," the food processing firm said.
Kimunya was arraigned in a Nairobi court to answer to abuse of office and land fraud charges over alleged irregular allocation of public land in Nyandarua County.
He was charged alongside Lillian Njenga, the former Director of Land Adjudication and Junghae Wainaina, the Chairman of the Board of Midlands Limited, the company alleged to have bought the land in question. They are facing seven counts of abuse of office and fraud charges.
Tobiko alleges that Kimunya, during his tenure as Lands Minister and Njenga had on June 30, 2005, used their offices to improperly confer a benefit to Midlands by allocating it public land measuring 25 acres worth Sh60 million.
Kimunya and Ms Njenga faced another count of fraudulent disposal of public property.