Former judge grilled on how ruling leaked before he delivered it
High Court Judges Leonard Njagi (left) with colleagues Jackton Ojuang (centre) and Joseph Sergon share a joke during break in the Judges Colloquium at the Serena Beach Hotel in Mombasa last month. Photo/FILE
What you need to know:
- Mr Njagi was testifying against Justice Mutava who was suspended over his handling of cases involving Goldenberg scandal architect Pattni.
He was being cross-examined by Justice Mutava’s lawyer Philip Nyachoti.
Mr Njagi denied knowledge of his clerk soliciting a bribe on his behalf.
A former judge was Wednesday taken to task over a ruling that was leaked before it was formally delivered.
Mr Leonard Njagi told a tribunal investigating another judge that he was not aware of the development until a villager informed him that his court clerk was in trouble as a result of the leaked ruling.
“The young man is a friend of my court clerk. He told me that my clerk had a problem with the Judicial Service Commission over a leaked ruling. I can’t say I know him very well. He falls in the category of every Tom, Dick and Harry but I just know he is called Kariuki,” he said.
Mr Njagi, who was declared unfit to serve in the judiciary in 2012, was testifying against Justice Joseph Mutava who was suspended over his handling of cases involving Goldenberg scandal architect Kamlesh Pattni.
He was being cross-examined by Justice Mutava’s lawyer Philip Nyachoti.
The tribunal is headed by appellate judge David Maraga.
Mr Njagi denied knowledge of his clerk soliciting a bribe on his behalf.
He, however admitted that his research assistant wrote most of the rulings for him.
“I allowed him to write the rulings. Once I had gone through his draft and was satisfied that it was the same as mine, I allowed the secretary to type his draft,” Mr Njagi said.
He added that though the research assistant was learning, he had established that he was a brilliant man.
He was, however, at pains to explain why he was in a hurry to conclude corrections in a December 21, 2012 ruling, the day he had been served with a letter from the Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board.
Mr Njagi said he was only making a few typographical error corrections on a ruling written days before the letter was handed to him.
A draft of the ruling was found in the compound of one of the parties before it was read in court.
The Judiciary Ombudsman, Kennedy Bidali, said despite investigations he was unable to pinpoint where or how the ruling leaked.
