Kidero acquittal: How DPP failed to prove Sh213 million graft charges

Former Governor of Nairobi Evans Kidero lauds President William Ruto and former late Prime Minister Raila Odinga for putting aside their political differences in the interest of national unity.[FILE] For nearly eight years, the corruption case against former Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero and nine others dragged through the corridors of justice, hailed at the beginning as one of the country's most high-profile anti-graft prosecutions. But on Thursday, it joined the long list of collapsed corruption cases that have exposed the persistent weaknesses of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Renson Ingonga and his team in securing convictions against powerful individuals. What began in 2016 as a Sh213 million corruption case implicating City Hall's top leadership ended not with accountability, but with acquittals, and questions about how the DPP and his team could fail to prove 17 charges despite what they described as "overwhelming evidence." The case has joined a long list of high-profile graft cases that have collapsed in Kenya's courts, victims of poor investigations, weak prosecution, and a justice system ill-prepared for the complexity of financial crimes. When the court session began at the Milimani Anti-Corruption Courts at 9 am, expectations were high. Instead, Magistrate Victor Wakumile read out only a single line of his ruling, delivered virtually, acquitting Kidero and most of his co-accused. Regarding counts 1 to 17, all accused persons are acquitted under section 210 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC)," ruled Magistrate Wakumile. Irregular transfer That sentence signalled yet another anticlimactic end to a multi-million-shilling case that had promised accountability when the accused were first charged on August 9, 2018, but delivered little. The prosecution had levelled 17 charges against Kidero and several senior Nairobi County officials, including former County Secretary Lilian Ndegwa and former Chief Finance Officer Jimmy Kiamba. The allegations stemmed from payments amounting to Sh213 million, said to have been irregularly transferred from Nairobi City County accounts during Kidero's tenure as governor. At the centre of the case were payments allegedly made to Lodwar Wholesalers Ltd and Ngurumani Traders Ltd for goods and services that investigators claimed were never delivered. The prosecution had alleged that Kidero personally received Sh24 million from City Hall through a company implicated in the scandal. Prosecutors led by Jennifer Kaniu and Naomi Isoe claimed the funds were wired to his KCB account in two tranches, Sh14 million and Sh10 million, without any lawful justification. Proceeds of crime The State's case, crafted under the watch of DPP Ingonga and his predecessor, now NIS boss Noordin Haji, sought to prove that the transactions were proceeds of corruption. As the years went by, the case became bogged down in procedural delays, witness inconsistencies, and what defence lawyers described as "paper-thin" evidence. The DPP's team relied heavily on 124 documentary exhibits, including bank statements, transaction documents, and 18 witnesses' testimony to demonstrate that money flowed from county coffers through intermediary companies before landing in Kidero's personal account and those of his four other co-accused persons. The DPP insisted that the payments were proceeds of crime and argued that Kidero, together with Ndegwa, Kiamba, and others, conspired to divert millions of shillings by approving payments to two companies for goods and services that were never rendered. These companies, according to investigators, acted as conduits through which the money was siphoned back to the accused persons. In submissions urging the court to find a case to answer, prosecutors said the funds paid to Kidero were disguised as payments for sugar. "According to the KCB RTGS application for funds transfer produced in court as evidence, the purpose of the payment was recorded as 'payment of sugar.' The same description appears in the transaction narrative of the Family Bank account of Kidero," the prosecution told the court. To support their case, the prosecution presented bank statements, payment vouchers, and internal City Hall documents showing how money moved from county accounts to the companies', and eventually into Kidero's personal bank account. According to testimony from City Hall officials, Lodwar Wholesalers was unlawfully paid Sh109.5 million, part of which the DPP claimed found its way into Kidero's personal account. But Kidero's defence team, led by lawyer Julie Soweto, told a very different story. From the onset, his lawyers dismissed the prosecution's case as a web of assumptions. They said the Sh24 million in question was a private transaction that had nothing to do with City Hall finances. Kidero maintained that the amount deposited in his KCB account was part of a legitimate transaction, the sale of a motor vehicle, registration number KBY 786K, to Lodwar Wholesalers for Sh25 million. "The prosecution has deliberately ignored clear documentary evidence, including a signed sale agreement, and instead relied on perception rather than proof," she added, urging the court to find that the State had failed to meet even the basic threshold for criminal culpability. Sowet dismissed the prosecution's case as "a patchwork of assumptions and conjecture unsupported by any credible evidence." "This entire case was constructed on speculation; no witness placed Dr Kidero at the scene of any wrongdoing, no document ties him personally to the alleged loss," Soweto told the court. However, the prosecution, through the lead investigating officer, disputed that explanation, claiming the vehicle was not transferred to Lodwar Wholesalers but to a Sudanese national, according to NTSA records. "A Tax agent of Lodwar Wholesalers told us he purchased a motor vehicle from Mr Kidero for Sh25 million," the EACC officer testified. "I confirmed that at some point it belonged to Mr Kidero. Indeed, Mr Kidero disposed of the vehicle. I perused the sale agreement between the governor and the firm. The vehicle was not transferred to Lodwar Wholesalers but to a Sudanese outside the jurisdiction of Kenya. The purchaser had a name. We tried to trace her, but we could not locate her." Kidero's lawyers further argued there was no evidence of collusion between him and the companies that received payments from the county. They pointed out that the DPP had failed to produce any document showing that the Sh24 million came directly from county accounts. After years of adjournments, submissions, and cross-examinations, the magistrate's ruling was blunt that there was no sufficient evidence linking Kidero or most of his co-accused to corruption. However, the court found that former Head of Treasury Stephen Ogaga Osiro had a case to answer on two charges of dealing with proceeds of crime amounting to Sh4 million and Sh3.5 million, which he is said to have corruptly received from Lodwar wholesalers. The court instead acquitted Osiro on five charges of abuse of office, where he had been accused of authorising payment of over 70 million dollars to the two firms. Directors John Githua and Grace Njeri of Lodwar Wholesalers and Ngurumani Traders were also put on their defence after the court found a prima facie case against them. "I find that the prosecution has proved the charges in counts 18 to 35. The accused persons are put on their defence," the magistrate ruled. The two directors and their firms will defend themselves on 14 charges of fraudulent acquisition of public property, said to total over Sh213 million. High-profile cases The firm and its directors are said to have acquired over Sh103.7 million using their firm, namely Ngurumani Traders Limited, from City Hall for services not rendered on August 27, 2014, and a further over sh 109.5 million through their company Lodwars Wholesalers Limited between 2013 and 2016. The decision dealt another blow to the DPP's credibility, following a string of collapsed corruption cases involving senior officials, all dismissed for lack of sufficient evidence. The Kidero acquittal mirrors a growing pattern of high-profile corruption cases collapsing in court after years of public anticipation. In May 2025, former Busia Governor Sospeter Ojaamong and eight others were acquitted in an Sh8 million graft case. In 2024, former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko was also freed in a Sh357 million corruption case for lack of proof. Similarly, former Treasury CS Henry Rotich and others walked free in the Sh63 billion Arrow and Kimwarer dams scandal after prosecutors failed to present key witnesses.

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