Former PS loses bid to stop trial over NYS scandal

Former PS Lilian Omolo

Former Youth and Gender Affairs Principal Secretary Lillian Mbogo-Omolo has lost a bid to stop her trial over the Sh468 million National Youth Service scandal.

Ms Omolo had filed a suit challenging her prosecution but Justice John Onyiego dismissed her claims of unfair trial, ruling that the Director of Public Prosecutions was justified to charge her with fraud and conspiracy to commit economic crimes.

“She was properly charged before court without undue delay, accorded an opportunity to be represented by an advocate and subsequently supplied with relevant documentary evidence. The DPP acted within his right to charge her,” ruled Onyiego.

The judge also dismissed her claims that the charges were defective, ruling that determination of whether a charge sheet was defective was not a constitutional issue to warrant stopping trial. Omolo had also contested the charges preferred against her in eight different files, arguing that it was prejudicial and that they would not accord her a fair chance to defend herself. Justice Onyiego said the DPP was right to bring the charges in separate files to avoid inconvenience and embarrassment of having more than 12 counts in a single file.