Suspects in the National Youth Service scandal will be tried in three clusters, the first process beginning on October 29, DPP
Noordin Haji has said.
The Director of Public Prosecution
said the grouping was directed by presiding magistrate Peter Ooko of the Anti-Corruption Court.
He did not reveal the identities of the suspects who will be tried first. Fifty four
are charged with occasioning the loss of Sh468 million from the youth service.
On Wednesday, the courts scheduled the trial of all the suspects, including former Youth PS Lilian Omollo and former NYS Director General Richard Ndubai,
for January 7 to 31.
In a tweet on Friday, however, the DPP’s office said the prosecution of the two falls under cluster two of the trial.
"[The trial of] cluster two [will be] from January 7. [The] court [is] yet to give dates for commencement of the trial of cluster three cases.”
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During Wednesday’s inter-parties hearing, senior assistant DPP Joseph Riungu told the court that Haji had
supplied defense lawyers with all witness statements, exhibits and the evidence material it intends to use.
Riungu also said the DPP has lined up a total of 43 witnesses and that the
prosecution will present its evidence orally, electronically and in hard copy.
In a statement on Thursday,
Haji said:
“Those to testify include IFMIS officers from the National Treasury, bank officials, contractors and document examiners."
The DPP noted that the court warned it will not
entertain adjournments once the trial starts.
Omollo and her co-accused were charged on May 29 after a dramatic series of arrests that occurred mostly at night.
She was sacked in July in a mini-cabinet reshuffle that saw President Uhuru Kenyatta pick Francis Otieno as her replacement.
All the suspects have denied charges of conspiring to defraud the agency.
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