- Jirongo moved to the High Court to challenge his prosecution and Justice George Odunga stopped the DPP from charging him.
- However, the DPP appealed and won the case which led to Jirongo being charged.
A Nairobi court on Wednesday terminated forgery charges against former Lugari MP Cyrus Jirongo in a Sh50 million fraud case.
The decision came after the Supreme Court last month ruled that Jirongo cannot be charged for an offence allegedly committed 24 years ago.
Jirongo was charged in 2016 with forgery relating to a property in Upper Hill that he bought 30 years ago.
Chief magistrate Francis Andayi adopted the Supreme Court ruling that dropped his charges.
The prosecution through prosecutor Angela Fuchaka said they were withdrawing the matter under section 87A.
However, Andayi terminated the charge under section 89(5) saying the charges were defective.
"In the circumstances, I find that the proper section to terminate the charges is section 89(5) where the charges should have been found to be defective as they ought not to have been filed against him in the first place," Andayi ruled.
"The charges are hereby terminated and the cash bail of Sh200,000 refunded to him."
Lawyer Danstan Omari for Jirongo told the court to note that he argued that there was no need to charge his client but the DPP insisted and filed the case.
"I hope the state has learnt not to be overzealous when there is a pending decision," Omari said.
He said the Supreme Court had vindicated his client and they had no objection to the withdrawal of the charge.
Jirongo moved to the High Court to challenge his prosecution and Justice George Odunga stopped the DPP from charging him.
However, the DPP appealed and won the case which led to Jirongo being charged.
Jirongo appealed to the Supreme Court and the court upheld judge Odunga's ruling that stopped the charges.
Judge Odunga had ruled that it would be unjust and contrary to Article 8 to prosecute Jirongo.
The judge noted that it would have been impossible to prosecute when the transactional documents may have been lost misplaced or tampered with.
Speaking to journalists after the ruling, Omari said they are happy with the charges being dropped and his client can now continue with his presidential campaigns.
“It is indeed advisable for parties to pursue civil proceedings initially and with firm findings by the civil court on any alleged fraud, proceed to institute criminal proceedings to bring any culprit to book.”
The judges said the Constitution expects that in the resolution of disputes, fairness must include promptness of action and inhibition against unreasonable delay.
According to court records, the dispute arose 30 years ago when the former MP entered a land sale agreement with his ex-business partners Sammy Kogo and Antoinnette Boit worth Sh20 million.
The disputed land in Upper Hill was registered under Soy Development Ltd. Jirongo reportedly paid Sh10 million for the property and the papers were released to him.
Jirongo later that year used the land to secure a Sh30 million loan from a bank and after he settled the loan in 1992, he used it to secure another loan of Sh50 million.
The dispute arose in 2015 when his former business partners alleged that when he was director of SDL, he executed a charge on the land which he used to secure an overdraft facility for his company Cyperr Projects International Ltd.
The two also claimed that the documents used by Jirongo to charge the property had been fraudulently executed and upon investigations, it had been revealed that their signatures had been forged.
-Edited by SKanyara