Official says anti-graft body acted outside law

By WILFRED AYAGA

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has no jurisdiction under the law to prefer charges against five senior managers of the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), the High Court heard yesterday.

One of the managers, Marwa Fadhili Chacha, yesterday argued before Justice George Odunga that EACC was acting outside the provisions of the law in a case in which he has been charged alongside former director Richard Kerich for conspiring to defraud NHIF of over Sh116m.

Through lawyer Joseph Omboga, Chacha argued that the EACC erred in law by charging him and his co-accused with the offences.

“The charges before the court are an abuse of court process because the charges have been preferred outside the express offences cited in the Public Procurement and Disposal Act of 2005,” he told the court.

On October 2, Fadhili, who was the NHIF manager in charge of strategy and corporate planning, appeared before acting Chief Magistrate Doreen Mulekyo and denied all charges against him. He is out on bail of Sh2 million.

A ruling on the application to halt the criminal proceedings against the former manager will be made on December 17.