Former Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich has opposed a bid by the DPP to consolidate his case with that of former KVDA boss David Kimosop.
Rotich, through his lawyers, has further opposed the amendment of the charges in the Sh63 billion Kimwarer and Arror dams case.
Kimosop and Treasury Director of Resource Mobilisation Jackson Kinyanjui have also opposed the application by the DPP, saying it will deny them justice, arguing that consolidation of their files with Rotich’s file will delay their trial.
On October 8, the DPP made an application seeking to consolidate the two matters into one, saying that the cases arise from similar facts and witnesses will be the same.
The prosecution says consolidating and amending the charges will reduce the number of accused from 18 to nine.
However, Rotich says it was the prosecution which, from inception, separated the cases for the very obvious reason that they were separable for speedy trial.
Rotich, through lawyer Kioko Kilukumi, argues that amending the charge sheet will violate the law.
“[T]he prosecution, in amending and altering the charges, will invariably affect and render inefficacious the orders he is seeking from the High Court, in the event the court was to grant those prayers,” KIlukumi said.
Rotich, who has a case a pending at the High Court challenging the charge sheet, argues that the DPP should wait for the determination of that matter before amending the charge sheet.
“We submit, consolidation of charges before the hearing and determination of the pending petition before the High Court will undermine the rights of the 1st accused to access justice,” reads court papers.
On his part, Kimosop through lawyer Philip Nyachoti, said that the application for consolidation and amending charges is an abuse of the office.
It is his argument that his file is related to allegations on financing of the development of Arror and Kimwarere multipurpose dam projects while Rotich’s file involves alleged failure by the accused persons to effect and adhere to procurement processes.
Rotich has also challenged the move by the DPP to drop charges against nine of the accused persons.
However, the former CS says he is not opposed to the release of the accused persons, but argues that the DPP cannot discontinue a prosecution without the permission of the court.
Chief magistrate Lawrence Mugambi will give a ruling on the issue on Friday this week.
