Prosecutor appeals sentence, applies to recover assets from convicts

Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Noordin Hajji. [Photo/Courtesy]

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has filed a petition at the High Court seeking to recover over Sh1.8 million from seven former county employees.

The seven were last month convicted of wilful failure to comply with procurement laws, two counts each, leading to the loss of Sh983, 880 in the Bungoma wheelbarrow scandal.

In the appeal dated July 23, 2018 and filed by state counsel Paul Juma, DPP Noordin Haji says the trial magistrate failed to consider that the seven lacked remorse for their actions.

“Having been aggrieved by the sentence of the trial magistrate, the appellant herein consider this appeal,” read part of the petition of appeal.

Inflated costs

Haji states that the trial magistrate failed to appreciate that one of the counts the seven were acquitted of — on grounds that the prosecution had not established to the required standards — was curable.

The DPP wants the cost of wheelbarrows, which was inflated by Sh929, 880, be doubled and each of the seven former officials made to pay the amount.

“The trial magistrate erred by failing to appreciate the imposition of the mandatory additional fines of Sh1, 859,760 which was to be imposed as a result of the loss suffered by the State as stipulated in section 48(1) (b) of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act 2003 and which must be equal to two times the amount of benefit or loss described,” says the DPP.

The DPP pleads with the High Court to compel each of the seven to pay the mandatory fine.

John Juma Matsanza, who was the acting secretary and the accounting officer, was fined Sh800, 000 for the two counts of failure to comply with laws relating to the management of funds and incurring of expenditures.