Gladys Shollei fights back, says no money was lost

Former Chief Registrar of the Judiciary Gladys Boss Shollei addresses the media in Nairobi Monday.  [Photo: Moses Omusula/Standard]

By Cyrus Ombati

Nairobi, Kenya: Former Chief Registrar of the Judiciary Gladys Boss Shollei spoke out for the first time since her dismissal, saying her sacking was premeditated by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).

Shollei termed the sacking unprocedural, saying she was never given a chance to defend herself.

She added no money was lost during her tenure and accused JSC of being biased against her.

 “I want to repeat at this early stage that the Judiciary has not lost any money. There has been no corruption at the Judiciary. All that has happened is the Judiciary administrative team has implemented programmes under the Judiciary transformation framework,” she said.

 Shollei told a news conference in Nairobi yesterday that information in the media that she appeared before the commission and defended herself was not true as they never reached that stage because she raised various procedural issues.

 She accused the JSC of open bias because within two-hours, the commission had a long statement ready for the media on her dismissal.

 The JSC announced on Friday that it had reached a unanimous decision to sack Shollei over a Sh1.2 billion scandal, coupled with various other forms of impropriety at the Judiciary.

 Denied claims

Chief Justice Willy Mutunga said then Shollei had admitted some of the allegations levelled against her in their investigation, claims she denied yesterday.

“First they say that the decision was unanimous – no it was not - how many commissioners stood with the CJ and Ahmednassir? Second they say, I admitted to some charges.  This is totally untrue, I have never admitted to even a single charge. Look at my final report. It is in black and white,” Shollei said.

Shollei insisted her work was above board and was prepared to prove it.

“I have several options to challenge the decision, and I am confident because the Judiciary is not the Chief Justice, the Judiciary is not the JSC,” she said.

 She said four members of the JSC have been working against her and that the commission was not qualified to investigate her.

 Shollei said she will fight for other junior staff at the Judiciary who now feel threatened and harassed after the CJ invited officials from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate allegations of corruption.

 “There is leadership problem here. It must be noted they have been sending subtle messages threatening most of the administrative staff with removal. This is wrong Kenyans. It is not the way to manage or lead our institutions. Where is innocence until proven guilty?” Shollei posed.

She explained before she appeared before JSC last Wednesday, she had raised preliminary issues on jurisdiction, process, bias/impartiality, public hearing, right to call witnesses, adjournment and a personal assurance from the CJ that there was no war council on her.

But all the requests were declined by the JSC, forcing her lawyers to demand that the ruling be in writing to allow them to appeal their decision in court.

“I have a right to appeal against any decision by the JSC to the High Court even to the Court of Appeal and eventually to the Supreme Court. The preliminary issues must be resolved by a court before the JSC proceeded. Why rush to terminate my services?” she asked.

She said she was ready to appear with her witnesses from the Public Procurement Oversight Authority, Internal Auditor General, quantity surveyors and other experts but was not granted the chance.

 “The JSC was not interested but proceeded to carry out their own kangaroo investigation,” she added.

 She explained she left the JSC meeting after informing the commissioners that she was headed for the High Court and expected that they would stay their decision until the process is exhausted but the commissioners never heard that.

 “They did not hear me so the only conclusion I derived is that the ruling was written long time ago by the so called War Council,” Shollei said, apparently referring to close aides of the CJ who reportedly worked on a strategy designed to engineer her removal.

The CJ, she added, had failed to verbally assure her he had not formed a war council with him as the commander-in-chief to strategise on how to remove her from office. Emails, some emanating from the CJ, show there was a war council that had plans for her removal from office.

 Shollei said the JSC accused her on September 10, alleging loss of Sh1.2 billion. Then last Friday, the commission said she admitted to 33 allegations amounting to Sh1.7 billion and she denied 38 allegations totaling to Sh610 million.

 “This figure grew from Sh1.2 billion to Sh2.2 billion. This is the law of the jungle, it is the mathematics of the defenders of corruption, it is the mathematics of everything that is not transparent. The Judiciary has not lost money,” she added.

 She said there is no money lost when one rents buildings if the process is done through open tender and within market rates and that out of the approximately 20 leases, only three were privately owned. The rest are leased from the Agricultural Finance Corporation – a government entity.

 She explained she had welcomed the probe into the allegations in the interest of transparency and asked for the EACC, Public Procurement Oversight Authority, Internal Auditor General and other agencies to be engaged in the process to probe the issues.

Backdated letter

Shollei accused the CJ of backdating a letter he wrote on Sunday to EACC inviting them to the Judiciary for investigations and wondered why Mutunga had not called the detectives at the very beginning.

 She added she spoke on behalf of selfless public servants who work hard serving the country only to be witch-hunted by few powerful forces.

Shollei added she had hope in many officials in the Judiciary who are committed to delivery of justice fairly even as she denied she is lobbying Members of Parliament to remove the commission or save her.

But in a rejoinder, JSC said it would publish findings on the allegations against Shollei to counter what the commission alleged was a “smear campaign.” “The commission observes that the smear campaign fuelled by misinformation, distortion and outright lies that characterised the two-month disciplinary process against her continues,” said the statement by Mutunga, chairman of JSC.

“Time has come for the JSC to begin telling truths about the former Chief Registrar of the Judiciary. The fight against corruption is not a public relations exercise; it is a serious undertaking based only on the facts,” it added.

“The JSC’s findings on the allegations against the former CRJ and her responses are available to the media and will be posted on the Judiciary website (www.judiciary.go.ke) tomorrow. As promised last Friday, the commission will engage with all stakeholders, including Parliament and the public, to explain its findings and decisions in the coming days,” Mutunga said.