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Six former Judiciary employees were charged in court over the purchase of a Sh310 million house for Chief Justice Willy Mutunga.
The house in Nairobi's Runda estate is said to have been purchased from Machakos Senator Johnstone Muthama without following procurement procedures.
However, former Deputy Judiciary Chief Registrar Francis Kakai Kissinger and the five tender committee members denied the charges before Milimani Chief Magistrate Kennedy Bidal of the Anti-Corruption Court.
They were released on a cash bail of Sh600,000 each with an alternative of a Sh1.5 million bond and one surety.
They denied three counts of engaging in a project without prior planning and failing to comply with procurement procedures.
This was after the Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko concurred with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) that they be charged. EACC made its recommendation on July 15 and forwarded the investigation file to the DPP.
Mr Kissinger with his co-accused Martin Okwatta, Benedict Omollo, Thomas Atak, Nicholas Mbeba and Wicliffe Wanga on Monday recorded statements at EACC offices after they were summoned by detectives.
The six were released on a free bond after they gave an undertaking that they will appear in court yesterday to answer to the charges.
However, former Judiciary Chief Registrar Gladys Shollei could not plead to the charges. Her lawyers Paul Ng'arua and Edwin Sifuna told the court that she had travelled out of the country to attend to an urgent issue when EACC summoned her to record her statement.
They said Mrs Shollei was forced to cut short her trip and was willing to travel back to the country and appear in court on August 24.
Yesterday, the six accused denied that between October 5, 2012 and June 3, 2013 at the Supreme Court Building they jointly engaged in the project for the purchase of a fully-furnished residential property from Muthama Holdings Property at Sh310 million.
The six also denied that on March 27, 2013 being members of the Judiciary Tender Committee, they allegedly failed to comply with the law and guidelines relating to the tendering of contracts by rejecting the submission of the Evaluation Committee.
They further denied that on March 27, 2013 they failed to ensure the Judiciary did not pay in excess of the prevailing market price during the purchase of the property.
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