BBC denies defaming Senator Wetang'ula on BAT expose'

International broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has denied tarnishing Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang'ula's name in its expose on British American Tobacco (BAT) bribery allegations.

In its response filed before High Court judge Roselyn Aburili, BBC through its lawyers from Hamilton, Harrison and Mathews advocates stated that it had given Wetangula a fair chance to rebut the claims before the programme dubbed Panorama went on air.

According to BBC, the Senator was allegedly given a chance to tell his side of the story on September 6 last year on the sidelines of the CORD leaders meeting at the Great Rift Valley Lodge which he was filmed by the investigations team, and he was allowed to raise any comment before the final documentary ran.

Richard Henry John Cookson produced the piece on BAT. He stated in his court papers that the idea was fronted to him in May last year from a whistle blower one Paul Hopkins, a former BAT employee in Kenya and he went through the documents to verify if the content was factual.

"We gave the plaintiff the opportunity to respond to the allegations in person. The plaintiff had the opportunity to provide me with a further explanation in writing but did not take the opportunity," Cookson stated in his reply.

According to the investigation, the denial explanation given by the senator in the process of recording the documentary allegedly did not lead him to believe that alleged emails with a Bat official on his name were forged.

"Although the plaintiff was clear in his denials, he gave me no credible motive why anyone would have forged the Wetangul'a email or why Mr Hopkin and employee B would have invented the story about him."

"We made sure that the plaintiff's denial was clearly and prominently included in the broadcast and publications. The viewers and readers have been left in no doubt that the plaintiff denied he had engaged in bribery or that he had even dealt with BAT," the court papers read.

The broadcaster also stated that it ran the expose on account of public interest and not for commercial purposes.

Wetang'ula filed a defamation suit against BBC for linking him to bribery allegations saying he was defamed by BBC in its programme dubbed Panorama, which allegedly exposed him as having solicited the purchase of an airline ticket to London for his wife.

The programme, he said, revealed that the senator was corruptly involved in a corporate scandal in which BAT bribed him while he was serving as minister for Trade during former President Daniel arap Moi's regime.

Wetang'ula, through his lawyer, said the story televised by BBC had continued to be in circulation through a multitude of electronic and print media to his prejudice.

 The case will be mentioned on May 31.