Former Sports CS Rashid Echesa will today be back at the Milimani Chief Magistrates Court for directions for his defence in a case where he was charged with fraud in the Sh39 billion fake arms deal.
Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina is expected to issue directions on how the matter will proceed after Echesa's acquittal was overturned by the High Court.
Echesa was acquitted in December 2021 by then-senior principal magistrate Kenneth Cheruiyot who said the prosecution had failed to prove its case against Echesa.
"The prosecution failed to call key witnesses who would have shed light on how the arms deal was clinched. In the absence of such testimony against Echesa, I acquit him under Section 215 of the Criminal Procedure Code," he ruled.
However, On February 26, High Court Judge Kanyi Kimondo ordered Echesa and his four co-accused persons to appear in court to defend themselves. That was after the state lodged a successful appeal.
"My final order is that the original lower court file shall accordingly be remitted back to the lower court for the court to formally place the 1st to 5th respondents on their defence," Justice Kimondo ruled.
Echesa was charged with conspiracy to commit a felony by conspiring to make a document with intent to defraud.
They also faced six counts of making a false document in the Sh39.5 billion fake arms deal.
They were alleged to have obtained Sh11.5 million from Kozlowski Stanley Bruno by purporting that they would award him a tender to supply military equipment to Kenya.
The last time the matter came up in court before Onyina last month, Echesa's defence team was granted more time to present him in court.
The lawyers said Echesa was bereaved and had travelled to Kakamega.
The court also heard that the third accused person Clifford Okoth Onyango was also bereaved and had travelled to Migori.
The others in the matter are Daniel Otieno Omondi, Kennedy Oyoo Mboya and Crispin Oduor Odipo who were all in court
