The Director of Public Prosecutions has suffered a blow after the High Court rejected an application to set aside a November 2, 2023 ruling, that directed the prosecution case of Former Nairobi Governor Mike sonko closed.
Sonko alongside 16 others, among them private liability companies, are accused of embezzling public funds to the tune of Sh.357 million from Nairobi County.
Justice Nixon Sifuna in his ruling on an appeal filed by the DPP dismissed the case and directed it to proceed as planned in the trial court.
Sifuna ruled that there was no material presented before him warranting his interference with the case.
"The application is dismissed and the case in the trial court proceeds from where it had reached and as scheduled," Justice Sifuna ruled.
He noted that the court in the exercise of its judicial function may close the evidence of a party in the event one acts in defiance of the court directions and contemptuously refuses to close its case, abandons the case and leaves it open.
That, however, Sifuna ruled must be done in good faith and in the interest of proper administration of justice.
"As I have always stated, the court is a master of its proceedings and only it has the task of controlling and managing its proceedings," Sifuna ruled.
"The task of the litigants is to present their case and not to control and manage the court or the judicial officer presiding over their case."
Senior Prosecutor Annette Wangia appealed the trial court decision to close the prosecution case.
In the application, the DPP asked the court to revise the ruling and give the DPP office time to table more evidence against Sonko and the 16 others.
However, with the case having dragged on for 4 years, the court rejected the application.
DPP in the corruption case against Former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko had lined up over 37 witnesses.
However, most of the witnesses have failed to testify leaving the court with no option but to close the prosecution case.
