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The Nairobian

Suspended SCs Charity Ngilu and Michael Kamau claim executive influenced their prosecution

Nairobi

By Kamau Muthoni | Nov 13, 2015

NAIROBI: Suspended Cabinet secretaries Michael Kamau (Roads) and Charity Ngilu (Lands) have criticised the decision of the Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko to prosecute them over graft allegations.

The two accused Mr Tobiko of working at the behest of the Executive.

They told the court that the DPP bent the law in a bid to fulfill demands from the Executive whilst knowing that the report by the Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission (EACC) could not be acted on without the complete number of commissioners.

Through their lawyers Paul Njuguna, Wanja Wambugu, Paul Muite and Kioko Kilukumi, the former CSs told judges Mumbi Ngugi, Joseph Onguto and George Odunga that Mr Tobiko had admitted in 2013 that EACC could not carry out investigations and complete them it was not a full commission.

Mr Kamau and Ms Ngilu had filed a letter from the DPP to the EACC chairman dated August 23, 2013, indicating that he could not act on a file that had been forwarded to him for lack of the requisite number of commissioners required by the law.

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"The DPP admitted that EACC could not function without the commissioners. He is bound by his own admission that the commission could not carry out investigations and file reports. Surprisingly, one year later, he took another stand when it came to the report that was tabled before the Parliament," the judges were told.

Mr Njuguna said his client, Mr Kamau, was prosecuted 'to beat the deadline' issued by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

He argued that EACC was under pressure to reveal names of those accused of graft but in the process did not follow the required law for initiating investigations and preparing reports. The lawyer told the court that EACC went against the law when it obeyed the President's directive to reveal names of the officials accused of graft.