The DPP has dismissed claims that it has halted the extradition of ex-Kenya Power CEO Samuel Gichuru to Jersey Island to face trial over corruption scandal.
A local media had reported that the DPP had stopped the extradition process.
But in a statement issued on Sunday, DPP Noordin Haji said they have postponed the matter after Gichuru fell ill.
“The ODPP has not made the decision not to proceed with the extradition process. The extradition have been held in abeyance or postponed on account of medical condition of the fugitive,” Haji said.
“According to a medical report availed to the ODPP and extradition court, Gichuru is critically ill.”
Haji said this was an internationally accepted principle that extradition be postponed.
“Considering the medical condition of Gichuru, the foregoing provisions of the London Scheme aptly apply. This is not the first time that the medical condition of a fugitive has been used as a basis for abeyance or postponement of extradition,” he said.
“The extradition proceedings against Gichuru shall proceed should his medical condition permit. "
The DPP reiterated that the proceedings have not been halted but held in abeyance on account of his medical condition and thus there is no selective justice herein.
The extradition proceedings against Chrysanthus Okemo the co-accused are still ongoing and the extradition court will deliver a ruling on whether he is eligible to surrender on 30th November, 2022.
In 2021, the Supreme Court gave the DPP the green light to begin extradition proceedings against former Cabinet minister Chris Okemo and ex-Kenya Power CEO Samuel Gichuru.
They will be extradited to Jersey Island to face theft and money laundering charges.
In a majority decision, Justices Martha Koome, Mohammed Ibrahim, Smokin’ Wanjala and Njoki Ndung’u held that extradition proceedings are criminal in nature and that the authority lies with the DPP and not the office of the Attorney General as had previously been held by the Court of Appeal.
It is alleged that both Okemo and Gichuru accepted bribes from foreign businesses that contracted with KPLC and hid the money in Jersey by causing the foreign contractors to make payments into the bank accounts of a Jersey company called Windward Trading Limited.
It is also alleged that Gichuru was the beneficial owner of the Jersey company which he controlled by using agents and that the money paid to the bank account of the company was distributed according to the instructions given by Gichuru’s agents including to personal accounts of Okemo and Gichuru in Jersey.
Okemo is charged in the Royal Court of Jersey with thirteen counts relating to the transactions in the accounts committed in the Island of Jersey under Jersey law between 1st July, 1999 and 2001.
On the other hand, Gichuru is charged in the same court with forty counts for offences allegedly committed under Jersey law in the Island of Jersey between 1991 and 28th June, 2000.
