Tribunal wants Uhuru to fire judge Joseph Mutava

Justice Joseph Mutava

A tribunal has recommended that President Uhuru Kenyatta should sack the judge who cleared businessman Kamlesh Pattni's name in the Sh5.8 million scandal.

The tribunal also found that Justice Joseph Mutava sought to influence retired judge Leonard Njagi in a Sh200 million property case involving Sehit Investment Director Rose Mbithe Mulwa.

In a 60-page report submitted to the President Wednesday, the tribunal proved three out of six gross misconduct allegations levelled against the beleaguered judge.

In the Goldenberg case involving Mr Pattni, the tribunal said the judge proceeded to write a judgement with respect to the matter at a time when the Judicial Review Commission was probing allegations of misconduct against him in the same case.

"That on or about March 20, 2013, the judge proceeded to write a judgement over the case which had been pending even as the judge's conduct regarding the matter was actively being investigated by the JSC," said the report.

Sh5.8 billion loss

Justice Mutava cleared Pattni and his companies in the Goldenberg scandal that cost the taxpayer Sh5.8 billion.

After interviewing 29 witnesses, the tribunal further proved that the judge irregularly and knowingly allocated himself a case involving Pattni without consulting the duty judge and head of the division.

High Court judge Weldon Korir had testified before the tribunal that he had requested Mutava to stand in for him around August 6 to 10, 2012, because he was attending to private matters, but denied asking Mutava to preside over a case involving the businessman.

He had told the tribunal that Pattni's matter was to be decided byJustice Florence Muchemi who was mandated with judicial review issues.

When the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) began reviving criminal cases against the businessman, Pattni filed a judicial review case challenging the DPP's decision.

"The matter proceeded ex-parte in the first instance before the judge, where he gave the applicant favourable orders staying the decision of the DPP and all relevant criminal proceedings," says the report.

And on allegation number five, the tribunal proved that Mutava sought to influence Justice Njagi who was handling a case involving Sehit Investment Ltd vs Josephine Akoth Onyango and three others.

He attempted to influence the ruling on a Sh200 million house in Karen in favour of Ms Mulwa, director of Sehit Investment, who was the plaintiff in the matter.

"The judge sought to influence the ruling in favour of Sehit Investments Director Rose Mbithe Mulwa in a property suit through oral and text messages from his cell phone," says the report.

That on various occasions, the judge directly sought to know the position of the case whose ruling was pending before Justice Njagi. The judge sent Njagi a text message about the same case.

The text was sent on September 6, 2012, at 9.27am and read, "HCC (High Court Civil Case) 705 of 2009 Sehit inv vs Josephine Onyango. I am for plf (plaintiff), Sehit. Thanks."

The tribunal, led by appellate judge David Maranga, found that the judge on several occasions sought to obtain the file, claiming that he was to deliver the ruling on behalf of the retired judge.

The tribunal could not prove allegations that Mutava met one of the directors of East Africa Portland Cement Company before handing them a favourable ruling.