To end turf wars, Haji seeks Kenya trial for Gichuru, Okemo
Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji at the Press Club organised by Kenya Editors' Guild and Transparency International on March 26, 2019 in Nairobi. PHOTO | COURTESY
What you need to know:
- DPP Noordin Haji seeks to convince Jersey authorities to allow him try the Chris Okemo and Samuel Gichuru in Kenya over money laundering.
- The appellate court quashed extradition proceedings against the duo, saying public prosecutor has no powers to institute the case.
Justices Erastus Githinji, Hannah Okwengu and Jamila Mohammed said only the Attorney-General has such powers.
Mr Haji said on Tuesday that at Jersey Island, he will hold discussions with authorities on how billionaire Samuel Gichuru and former Cabinet minister Chris Okemo can be tried for allegedly stashing proceeds of corruption in the island.
Investigators believe that when Mr Gichuru was the Kenya Power managing director and Mr Okemo a Finance minister, they deposited millions of shillings in Jersey, a tax haven.
Jersey is not part of the UK but it is a self-governing island that considered a British Crown dependency alongside Isle of Man and Bailiwick of Guernsey.
Mr Gichuru’s offshore company, Windward Trading Limited, has already pleaded guilty in a Jersey court to crediting £1 million and $2.9 million to its bank accounts on July 29, 1999, knowing the money was from Mr Gichuru’s corrupt dealings.
TURF WARS
The matter is one of the cases Kenya has appeared to be slow in prosecuting.
Mr Haji was asked on the progress of the matter on Tuesday during a luncheon with the Press Club organised by the Kenya Editor’s Guild in association with Transparency International.
Mr Haji told the editors that the case is now at the Supreme Court where his office is fighting a decision blocking him from extraditing the two suspects.
Kyle McCarter, the new US Ambassador to Kenya, addresses the Kenya Editors Guild Press Club luncheon at the Stanley hotel in Nairobi on March 26, 2019. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
The DPP said he is pursuing ways of bypassing the legal challenges thrown on his path by the appellate court which quashed extradition proceedings against the duo, saying public prosecutor has no powers to institute the case.
Justices Erastus Githinji, Hannah Okwengu and Jamila Mohammed said only the Attorney-General has such powers.
According to the judges, extradition is not part of Kenya’s criminal justice system and the law assigns responsibility to the AG to decide whether a warrant should be issued.
Kenya Editors Guild Chairman Churchill Otieno, DPP Noordin Haji and Nation Media Group Chairman Wilfred Kiboro during the Press Club luncheon at the Stanley hotel in Nairobi on March 26, 2019. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
'BYPASS HURDLE'
“In the next two weeks, I will be going to Jersey to sit down and agree on how best we can think outside the box and circumvent some of these legal roadblocks that we have. The matter of extradition is still at the Supreme Court,” said Mr Haji.
“We have waited and we’re still waiting. But I think we’re now in agreement that we can no longer wait for the Supreme Court to come and listen to the matter.”
One way of going round the court process, he said, could be by having the trial conducted in Kenya.
“We are thinking of innovative ways of prosecuting individuals maybe here in Kenya. And we can allow the Jersey courts to come and sit here. That’s something we are exploring; and that’s the way we’re going,” he said.
The case involving the two has delayed largely because of turf wars between Mr Haji’s office and that of the Attorney-General, and Mr Haji did not shy away from giving his opinion on the matter.
“It’s our belief that anything to do with the criminal justice should fall under the ODPP and not the Attorney-General’s office. The Constitution is very clear on that,” he said.
