Moi ex-aide wants fraud case settled out of court
What you need to know:
- The development follows boardroom negotiations between Kenya Pipeline Company and Gas Company Limited, a firm that is also an accused entity in the proceedings.
- However, the prosecution told the trial court in Nairobi that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is yet to give a nod on whether the trial may be quashed and that “he is not a party to the ongoing negotiations.”
A 15-year-long corruption case against former President Daniel Moi’s aide Joshua Kulei may now be settled out of court.
The development follows boardroom negotiations between Kenya Pipeline Company and Gas Company Limited, a firm that is also an accused entity in the proceedings.
However, the prosecution told the trial court in Nairobi that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is yet to give a nod on whether the trial may be quashed and that “he is not a party to the ongoing negotiations.”
“We need time to get directions from the DPP,” Mr Daniel Karuri said, adding that the DPP will have the final say on the matter.
A further mention date has been set for September 21 to update the trial court on the outcome of the negotiations.
Mr Kulei and nine others face multiple corruption charges in the case involving the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) and Kenya Pipeline.
They are accused of conspiring to defraud the KAA by irregularly facilitating the allotment of 12 pieces of land in Mombasa at Moi International Airport that were transferred to Gas Company Limited on October 2, 1996.
Mr Kulei is charged alongside former KAA managing director Peter Langat, former land commissioner Wilson Gachanja and Ezekiel Komen, formerly of Kenya Pipeline.
They face other charges of abuse of office, which arise from the transfer of the 12 plots from the Kenya Airports Authority’s land.
Mr Kulei is further charged with obtaining Sh17.9 million through the sale of public land in Mombasa to a private firm.
The prosecution says he obtained Sh12 million from Gas Company Limited on May 19, 1999 in Nairobi and another Sh5.9 million from the firm by falsely pretending that Sian Ltd had paid land rent, rates and assessment fees.
The court, on Wednesday, extended the suspect’s bond of Sh3 million to the next mention date.
