CJ declares war on corruption in the Judiciary
Chief Justice David Maraga (right) with Haffez Cockar, the son of the late former CJ Abdul Majid Cockar during a ceremony in honour of Justice Cockar in Nairobi, on November 21, 2016. With them are Justice Cockar’s daughters-in-law Zahida (second left) and Zarina. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Justice Maraga said his office and that of the Law Society of Kenya had agreed to launch a common front to stamp out corruption in the Judiciary.
- He said neither lawyers nor judicial officers will be safe since the hammer of the law will fall on them.
Lawyers who serve as conduits of bribes to judicial officers will face the full force of the law, Chief Justice David Maraga warned on Monday.
While admitting 125 new lawyers into the roll of advocates at the Supreme Court, Justice Maraga warned them against bribing magistrates and judges “in order to win cases”.
He said he had declared total war on corruption in the Judiciary.
Justice Maraga said his office and that of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) had agreed to launch a common front to stamp out the vice.
HAMMER OF THE LAW
“Far-reaching punitive measures against those advocates who are conduits of their clients in bribing or attempting to bribe the judicial officers and staff will be meted out,” he said in his first occasion of swearing in new advocates.
He said none of the two parties, lawyers and judicial officers, will be safe since the hammer of the law will fall on them.
“In such cases, both the lawyer bribing the judicial officer and the judicial officer receiving the bribe are guilty,” he said.
He said the LSK president had agreed with him that while the Judiciary took the fight against corruption seriously, there was an equally corresponding duty for the lawyers’ body to start taking punitive measures against advocates who aided bribery of judicial officers.
