Governor Mutua’s graft case withdrawn, consent registered in court

Out of the woods: Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua Parliament. [Boniface Okendo/Standard]

Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua has been spared prosecution for corruption.

This is after the Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji withdrew the changes against him on Wednesday 30, 2018.

The withdrawal of the matter follows the signing and registering, in court, of a consent to terminate   the prosecution featuring the governor's lawyers, the DPP and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and the office of the Attorney-General.

 The deal deposited with Court of Appeal judges Roslyn Nambuye, Otieno Odek and Asike Makhandia has it that the State will not institute any criminal charges against Governor Mutua.

The Machakos Governor was facing charges of abuse of office over the procurement of motor vehicle for the County's Executive Committee members after the DPP had authorized his prosecution.

The DPP and the EACC wanted Mutua charged over the illegal procurement of 15 Subaru Out-Backs and a Toyota Land-Cruiser by the Machakos County Government.

The governor had opposed his prosecution in High Court arguing that the county executive committee formulated a policy for the purchase of the vehicles in 2013 as a matter of urgency because he needed to get things going after his first election; that he had nothing to do with  the purchase  since he was not the accounting officer.

He had told court that as head of county government, he was only involved in policy formulation along with the Executive members.