Ombudsman: Intelligence agency has thrown me under the bus

The Judiciary Ombudsman has accused the National Intelligence Service of “throwing him under the bus” by disowning a report that was partly relied on to indict a Supreme Court judge.

Kennedy Bidali said he got the report from an officer in the intelligence agency and handed it over to the Judicial Service Commission as part of evidence against the Justice Philip Tunoi.

The judicial team then relied on the document to recommend the suspension of Justice Tunoi and the formation of a tribunal to investigate him.

Yesterday, Mr Bidali told the tribunal that he had met with the unnamed intelligence agent at the Judiciary Training Institute, on Kiambu Road, where they held lengthy discussions before the agent gave him the unsigned and undated report.

“They’ve thrown me and my team under the bus; it means they’ve disowned it,” he told the tribunal, referring to the report.

The report detailed alleged meetings and phone conversations between Justice Tunoi and his accuser Geoffrey Kiplagat.

Mr Bidali said he was introduced to the agent by Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, who told him “someone” from the intelligence agency would call him.

The Ombudsman said he held various meetings with the officer, meant to guide the Ombudsman to “process further” and help him in “configuring communication between Tunoi and Kiplagat”.

“Based on this, I was able to follow and process the complaint further,” he said during cross-examination by Justice Tunoi’s lawyer Fred Ngatia.

Mr Bidali said he confirmed the officer was an intelligence agent using more than “five ways” and that the person gave the report with a promise that a similar dated and signed one would be given later.

But Mr Ngatia described the judicial team’s testimony and report against the judge as “a fairly winded tale” and accused the Ombudsman of destroying the judge’s career. Mr Bidali denied the assertions.

Mr Ngatia wondered who gave Mr Bidali the authority to investigate the judge when that is supposed to be the work of the judicial team.

Mr Bidali said he advised Mr Kiplagat to come out in public via a TV interview and talk on the bribery allegations “for the sake of his security”.

Mr Ngatia tore into the commission and Mr Bidali’s testimony against Justice Tunoi and wondered why the Kiplagat affidavit was made public a year after it was sworn.