The Standard Group Plc is a
multi-media organization with investments in media platforms spanning newspaper
print operations, television, radio broadcasting, digital and online services. The
Standard Group is recognized as a leading multi-media house in Kenya with a key
influence in matters of national and international interest.
Dennis Itumbi at Milimani Law Courts. [George Njunge, Standard]
State House director of digital media, Dennis Itumbi was yesterday charged in relation to a letter alleging a plot to assassinate Deputy President William Ruto.
Itumbi faced three counts: making a false document, publishing a false statement and re-programing his mobile phone.
In the first count, the State claimed Itumbi, on June 20, 2019, drafted a letter knowing it was a fabrication.
“Dennis Itumbi, on June 20, 2019, at unknown place within the Republic of Kenya made a document to wit a letter dated May 30 2019 purporting to be a genuine document made by a cabinet secretary a fact you knew it was false,” the charge read in part.
On the second count, Itumbi is claimed to have published the letter to cause public havoc. This, despite knowing that the allegations contained in the letter were false.
Two mobile phones confiscated from a man named as Samuel Gateri after his arrest on July 2 led detectives to Itumbi.
Earlier, lead investigator Yvonne Anyango, in a separate application to hold Itumbi, had told the court that after searching the phones, she found that Itumbi had shared the letter containing allegations about a plot to assassinate the DP in a WhatsApp group named Tanga Tanga Movement.
“Pursuant to the perusal of the said WhatsApp group, the purported letter allegedly emanating from a ‘Cabinet Secretary’ was recovered as having being posted by the respondent (Itumbi) in the said WhatsApp group on June 20, 2019,” Anyango said.
The WhatsApp group, which was created on July 8, 2018, has 256 members, including some governors and MPs.
Gateri will now testify against Itumbi, as he is listed as the first State witness.
On the third count, Itumbi is accused of interfering with his mobile phone, a Samsung Note S9. This is said to have happened on June 30.
Itumbi is out on a Sh100,000 cash bail and is barred from posting about the case on his social media platforms.
The Standard Group Plc is a
multi-media organization with investments in media platforms spanning newspaper
print operations, television, radio broadcasting, digital and online services. The
Standard Group is recognized as a leading multi-media house in Kenya with a key
influence in matters of national and international interest.
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