Former Devolution PS loses bid to stop his prosecution over Sh791 theft from NYS

Former Planning Principal Secretary Peter Mangiti

Former Devolution Principal Secretary Peter Mangiti (right) has lost a bid to stop his prosecution over the Sh791 million theft at the National Youth Service.

Lady Justice Hedwig Ong’udi ruled that the former PS has not demonstrated that he did not participate in the looting.

She said Mangiti should use the evidence he has to clear his name before the anti-corruption court instead of rushing to the High Court.

“He is facing charges which are clearly provided in the law and should have raised his defence before the trial court. What he is trying to do is to invite the court to go through evidence and find that he should not be prosecuted when he has a chance to defend himself during the trial,” ruled Ong’udi.

Justice Ong’udi ruled that the anti-corruption court is best equipped to assess the quality of evidence and that the High Court has no authority to stop the lower court from proceeding with the case.

Mr Mangiti is among former senior government officials and businessmen charged with stealing public funds, abuse of office, and conspiracy to defraud the Government in the multi-million shilling NYS scandal.

He has challenged his prosecution, claiming he was being used as a scapegoat to cover the real architects and looters of public funds in the Ministry of Devolution.

According to the former PS, he was not a member of the tender committee that cleared controversial transactions between NYS and various companies and signed the documents as a statutory duty.

But the judge disagreed with the submissions, ruling that as the ministry’s accounting officer, he must have been aware of what was taking place.

According to the judge, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keriako Tobiko, independently reviewed the NYS report and came to the conclusion that the suspects had a case to answer, which justified their prosecution.

Justice Ong’udi also dismissed claims that charges against the former PS were fabricated, ruling that he has already pleaded to the charges and the case was going on. [Paul Ogemba]