Githongo’s case put off over tapes
What you need to know:
- The case in which former Internal Security minister Chris Murungaru sued Mr Githongo for defaming him will now be mentioned on March 24 to allow for more time to listen to the secret tapes.
The hearing of a defamatory suit on the former Governance Permanent Secretary John Githongo’s dossier on Anglo leasing filed nine years ago was on Monday postponed.
The case in which former Internal Security minister Christopher Murungaru sued Mr Githongo for defaming him through allegations in the dossier was postponed to allow give parties time to listen to the secret tapes that allegedly expose an attempt to interfere with investigations in the Anglo Leasing scandal.
Dr Murungaru’s lawyer Kioko Kilukumi said that the exercise as ordered by court had started but was not yet complete since the tapes are lengthy.
Mr Kilukumi said the process of making transcripts of the conversations in the four secret tapes has also commenced.
He also said the tapes take between an hour and three hours to listen to and pleaded to have the hearing be scheduled on another date after confirming that the transcribing exercise had been completed.
“We have started the exercise of transcription of the tapes and we seek to take the hearings to another date,” said Mr Kilukumi.
High court judge David Onyancha allowed the request to reschedule the hearing to a further date from the earlier ones of March 17, 18, 19 and 20.
Earlier this month, Justice Onyancha allowed parties to listen to the secret tapes and had directed that both the former minister and former PS to ensure a transcript is made and is presented in court in the presence of their lawyers and a Kikuyu and English translator.
The alleged audio tapes are part of the evidence placed before court by the former Ethics and Governance PS.
Last year, Dr Murungaru declined to be cross-examined on the secret tape recordings which allegedly depict him as corrupt. He claimed that an earlier transcript of the recording has Kikuyu words supplied by ‘someone not faithful’.
He is however expected to be grilled in relation to the tapes in question after both parties have listened to them together and have come up with an agreeable transcript of its content during the next hearing.
The case will be mentioned on March 24.
