Court file hitch halts Ruto case

A Sh96 million criminal case against suspended Higher Education minister William Ruto failed to proceed due to a hitch involving the court file.

The file presented before the chief magistrates court did not have all the documents on it forcing Mr Gilbert Mutembei to adjourn the matter.

Mr Ruto and his co-accused had come to court following an order by the high court on October 15 directing the case be taken to chief magistrates court for the purposes of taking a hearing date.

However, the magistrate could not allocate any dates as the order giving him directions was missing on court file before him.

And following this, he directed Mr Ruto’s lawyer Katwa Kigen to get the order from the High Court and bring it to the chief magistrates court in the afternoon.

Mr Ruto and four other persons were appearing in court Tuesday in relation to a case filed against them in 2004 in which KPC lost more than Sh272 million in the sale of the plot which was part of Ngong Forest.

Mr Ruto was charged with receiving Sh9.9 million, saying he was in a position to sell the land, belonging to the ministry of Environment and Natural Resources.

He is alleged to have been paid another Sh57.8 million and Sh28 million for land in the same forest.

In the dismissed petition, however, Mr Ruto and his co-accused filed a constitutional reference after they were charged before the Chief magistrate court, Nairobi. Chief Justice Evan Gicheru had to appoint a bench to hear the case.

The constitutional application was recently concluded and Mr Ruto ordered to face criminal trial. He was subsequently suspended from Cabinet.

Mr Ruto came to court at 9 am and sat through other court proceedings going on before the magistrate.

The courtroom was packed with Mr Ruto’s supporters and media.

Among those who showed up in court were MPs: Mithika Linturi, David Koech, Charles Keter and Joshua Kutuny.