Now police want Mwau aides charged

Police want embattled Kilome MP John Harun Mwau’s bodyguard and driver charged with giving false information over a shooting incident involving his car.

The MP’s driver and guard reported being fired at near Parliament on June 23, a week after Mr Mwau claimed his life was in danger and asked for State protection.

But Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere said on Wednesday the claims were unfounded. “It (the vehicle) was not shot at the said place because there were no empty cartridges at the scene.

“The impressions made by the bullets on the body of the vehicle are those made on a stationary target and not a moving one.

“It’s impossible for occupants to have escaped without injuries if at all they were inside the vehicle,” Mr Iteere said.

The police boss directed his officers to establish where and how the shooting occurred.

“I have directed that the file be forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) with the recommendation that the two be charged with the offence of giving false information,” he said when Mr Keriako Tobiko, the DPP, paid him a courtesy call.

Section 169 of the Penal Code says: “Whoever gives to any person employed in the public service any information which he knows or believes to be false… is guilty of a misdemeanour and is liable to imprisonment for three years.”

Mr Iteere said the legislator, who the United States government recently named among the top seven drug-lords, would not be charged because he had not been linked to the incident.

On Tuesday, US Treasury Department official Adam Szubin said his government slapped sanctions against Mr Mwau because of a cocaine haul found at Pepe Container Depot in 2004.

He said they had established a foolproof case against Mr Mwau. (READ: US targeted Mwau over Sh6b drugs)

“We view him as among the more powerful and active narcotics traffickers in the region,” said Mr Szubin.

The US had imposed civil sanctions against Mr Mwau and Ms Naima Mohammed, whom Mr Szubin also described as “head of one of the largest drug trafficking rings operating in Nairobi.”

Mr Mwau’s Range Rover was sprayed with bullets, leaving three holes on the driver’s door, and on the rear right door and the driver’s window shattered.

The bodyguards told police that they were shot at while driving on City Hall Way, at around 10.15pm on their way to the InterContinental Hotel, to pick up the MP.

At least six bullets were fired, but only one cartridge was recovered inside the vehicle. The car was towed to Central Police Station for forensic tests, but the lead detective, Corporal Gerald Wasike Wanyama, collapsed and died shortly after inspecting it.

Mr Iteere visited the station and asked the MP’s driver to demonstrate how he was seated during the attack. Police believe the driver would have been injured or killed if the car was fired at as alleged.

Trailed by people

The detectives also searched the vehicle for missing bullet heads because four of the shots fired did not penetrate to the other side of the car.

The driver and guard claimed that a car overtook them and its passengers opened fire at them near Garden Square.

Two weeks ago, the Kilome MP said in Parliament he was being trailed by unknown people after US President Barack Obama slapped sanctions on him under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act.