A court in Kenya has cleared the country’s deputy president, Rigathi Gachagua, of corruption charges related to a Ksh 7.4bn fraud case that has he has been battling even before he and his boss President Dr William Samoei Ruto were elected to the two top-most offices in the land.
The Anti-Corruption Court has given the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) a green light to withdraw the fraud case against the deputy president and his co-accused, nine in number.
State prosecution had filed an application seeking to withdraw charges against Gachagua, with prosecutors arguing that there was no point with pursuing a case that was bound to fail, admitting that there was no sufficient evidence to pin the deputy president and his co-accused.
The Directorate of Public Prosecutions further argued that as provided for under Section 87 A of the Criminal Procedure Code, the DPP could cause the arrest and prosecution of DP Gachagua and nine others if they landed on fresh evidence to pin them for fraud even when the current case has been withdrawn.
The withdrawal of the charges against Gachagua and his co-accused came after Obadiah Kuriah, a police officer, swore an affidavit claiming that detectives of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) were compelled to slap charges against Gachagua. The affidavit puts DCI in the spotlight about being used by powerful and wealthy Kenyans seeking to fight their political rivals.
In the end, presiding judge Victor Wakumile blamed the Directorate of Public Prosecutions for slapping charges against the Deputy President and his co-accused before conducting thorough investigations into the matter, and without having adequate evidence to back up the case against the country’s second in command.
In his ruling, Judge Wakumile wondered: “How come DPP seemed to have acted and preferred charges based on inconclusive investigations?”He also ruled that “one cannot be prompted to infer that he acted under pressure from his junior, the DCIO.”
