Criminal law practice is one area which has witnessed little change for a long time but the renewed war against corruption has made it acquire a new character.
Before a charge is preferred, the law demands that first of all there should be reasonable ground to believe that a crime has been committed.
Recently we have seen instances where the Director of Public Prosecution prefers a charge and, once such a person is charged, then the prosecution request for more time to carry out an investigation.
The practice demands that before a charge is preferred there should be sufficient investigation that has been carried out and whatever charge is preferred is a charge according to the offence that is committed.
It is important to note that the DPP does not have a blank cheque as far as his role as the sole government prosecutor is concerned. The law does not provide a blank cheque that whenever the DPP suspects a crime has been committed he decided the charges that are preferred.
Sometimes they run the risk of preferring wrong charges that sometimes leads to cases being dropped or suspects being acquitted.
When a charge is dropped there is either a possibility that the case is terminated or the file is referred back to the investigating agency.
What occasions the referral of file back to the investigators is when the prosecutor has interrogated the evidence presented based on the investigation and then concludes that the evidence cannot sustain a conviction.
Such files can be referred back to investigators so that the gaps can be concretised or the gaps filled before they are forwarded for charging.
Not all charges have always resulted in a criminal conviction, there are certain offences that always compel the DPP to recommend administrative action which refers to a situation where, for example, a CEO of an organization is found to have been negligent in some actions which do not require criminal action. In such a case administrative action can be recommended and the boss surcharged.
DPP and his officers have always faced a number of challenges which include inadequate training which is linked to the resources the ODPP is allocated.
CHARLES OMANGA (Advocate of the High Court) spoke to the Star
