New hurdle emerges in Ngilu graft case

Former Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu at a Nairobi court on March 14, 2016. She is facing prosecution in relation to the Karen land saga. PHOTO | PAUL WAWERU | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Mr Muite said the case should be thrown out on a technicality — lack of proper composition of the EACC then.
  • The prosecution and the defence, on Monday, agreed to return to the Anti-Corruption Court for a further mention on June 15 to update the trial magistrate on the developments at the High Court.

A fresh legal hurdle has emerged over the prosecution of former Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu in relation to the Sh8 billion Karen land saga.

On Monday, a trial court was told that an order staying criminal proceedings before the Anti-Corruption Court had been issued at the High Court’s Environment and Lands Court, but the prosecution was planning to challenge the order at the Court of Appeal.

But the prosecution said it wished to proceed with the criminal case since the former CS had lost a petition at a Judicial Review Court objecting to her prosecution.

Senior Counsel Paul Muite, for the defendant, told the Anti-Corruption Court that even though the petition had been lost, a finding had been made that the EACC “was not properly constituted to investigate the case, and it would be interesting to see how the prosecution wishes to proceed with the trial”.

Three judges of the Judicial Review Division last week said they would not halt Ms Ngilu’s prosecution even though they had found that the EACC was not properly constituted when it recommended criminal proceedings against her.

Mr Muite said the case should be thrown out on a technicality — lack of proper composition of the EACC then.

On November 2 last year, Justice Lucy Gacheru of the Environment and Lands Division, before whom a separate contention over the saga was going on, halted the criminal proceedings but stated that the order “was not a termination of the anti-corruption case as that was an issue to be determined in the petition that was still pending before the Judicial Review Division”.

The prosecution and the defence, on Monday, agreed to return to the Anti-Corruption Court for a further mention on June 15 to update the trial magistrate on the developments at the High Court, more so in the civil case at the Environment and Lands Court, before a hearing date is set, depending on the outcome of the intended appeal.

Mr Muite’s request to have the presence of Ms Ngilu and six other suspects, including former NSSF managing trustee Josphat Konzolo, dispensed with was rejected.