Murungaru, former anti-graft chief Githongo Githongo case to be heard next month

The controversial audio recordings of conversations between former anti-graft chief John Githongo and officials of President Kibaki's administration that became the subject of a corruption probe will be admitted in court.

This emerged in a case where former Internal Security minister Chris Murungaru has sued Mr Githongo for defamation.

The case will resume on October 23.

High Court judge David Onyancha also gave additional hearing dates from November 17 to 20.

Lawyer Esmael Abass, representing Mr Murungaru, told the court they had agreed to admit transcripts obtained from audio recordings that had been bound and presented in court.

The recordings, he said, contained conversations allegedly recorded by Githongo. He however pointed out that some parts of the recordings were one sided.

The one-sided parts, he said, lacked transcripts as only one party in the conversation could be heard.

During previous hearings, Murungaru told Justice Onyancha the cross-examination on the tapes' contents could only take place after his lawyers were allowed to participate in preparation of the transcripts.

The over 35-page transcripts had been served to Murungaru by the former Ethics and Governance PS, who is defending himself against defamation claims.