Nation Media Group senior reporter Walter Menya was yesterday released unconditionally by a Nairobi court.
Principal magistrate Martha Mutuku in her ruling said that Menya should be freed because the prosecution had not shown the court what they have done so far in their investigations.
Menya, who was arrested
on Sunday, was on Monday detained by the same court after the prosecution made an application seeking to hold him further on allegations of demanding money by menaces.
State Counsel Daniel Karuri told the court he had received instructions from the DPP to release the suspect on personal bond and further directed that the file be forwarded to him when the investigations are complete.
However, Senator James Orengo opposed the application by the prosecution, saying there is no basis on which to keep his client in such a manner that his freedom is restrained.
“If the court allows the application made by the prosecution it will be like the court is supervising the investigations,” he said.
Lawyer Nelson Havi also asked the court to warn the police not to conduct their investigations on social media, saying they leaked a video on the internet in relation to the alleged case.
Menya was arrested on suspicion of taking a bribe from a news source and was presented in court on Monday.
However, he was not required to plead to any charges as the prosecution sought three days to conclude investigations. Investigating officer Moses Gituatha told the court Menya’s arrest was a follow-up to a report by complainant Kennedy Koros, alleging he demanded Sh50,000 so he could publish a story which interested Koros in the Sunday Nation.
He further claimed Menya received a down payment of Sh32,000 through M-Pesa between June 15 and 17.
It is alleged he published the story with the headline ‘Civil Servants in JP Foundation say all they want is to alleviate poverty’ and went to Koros to collect the balance after the story was published.
It is alleged that during the arrest, Menya was found in possession of Sh20,000 which was treated for purposes of evidence collection after the report was made and kept as the exhibit.
Gituatha told the court the money recovered on Menya and the clothes he was wearing are yet to be submitted to the government chemist.
It was further claimed that police intend to visit Menya’s office at Nation Centre and his home during working days and office hours. Mutuku directed that Menya appears in court in a weeks’ time for further directions.