Fate of Justice Philip Tunoi probe to be known today

The tribunal investigating bribery claims against Justice Philip Tunoi will today determine if it will hear the remaining witnesses after the judge was retired.

The Sharad Rao-led tribunal did not stop its investigations so it can hear arguments by lawyers. On Monday last week, Justice Tunoi's lawyer Fred Ngatia asked the tribunal to end the investigations.

He said the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) did not carry out investigations before making its recommendations and only relied on findings by Judiciary officer, Kennedy Bidali.

The tribunal needs to hear the remaining witnesses as well as the judge before making its final recommendations to the President.

"The tribunal is yet to hear the remaining evidences and is yet to hear from Justice Tunoi, if he chooses to. Without this, the tribunal cannot come to a conclusion," said Rao.

Lead counsel Paul Nyamodi argued JSC delegated powers to Mr Bidali and thus the process was properly initiated.

"Whereas Mr Bidali may have conducted certain initial investigations, JSC adopted his work either rightly or wrongly. I believe the correct position is  the process and the proceedings were being carried out under some agency or delegated authority by JSC and they were the ones who investigated the judge," he said.