The office of the Director of Public Prosecutions has been dealt a blow after the court declined an application seeking to withdraw the Sh30 million graft case facing former Kenya Pipeline MD Charles Tanui.
Anti-corruption court magistrate Victor Wakumile directed that the matter proceeds to its logical conclusion.
Only one witness is remaining before the case comes to a close.
"The power to withdraw cases is not absolute, but must be exercised judiciously with due regard to public interest," the magistrate said.
Tanui was in 2020 charged with irregular payment of Sh30 million for the supply of three transformers when he was in office.
He was charged alongside Elias Maina, who was chief manager in charge of the technical department, and Josphat Sirima, who was the chief engineer.
Tanui faced abuse of office charge and failure to comply with the procurement laws.
The charge sheet indicated that on February 18, 2014, he wilfully failed to comply with the law relating to procurement by authorising payment of €261,070.42 (Sh30 million) to Redline Limited for the supply, installation and commissioning of line 2 station autotransformer without a written and signed contract.
But the DPP on February 12, 2024, filed an application seeking to have the case against all the accused persons withdrawn.
They told the court that they received a request from the accused persons seeking review of the decision to charge them.
The DPP reviewed the file and has considered that Tanui and Maina authorised the payment for the tender in question after being advised and confirming that the documentation was in order.
The DPP in reviewing the file has confirmed that no public money has been lost, as the monies which were paid to Redline Ltd for works not done have since been returned.
The DPP in seeking the withdrawal says the application is meant to advance the fair administration of criminal justice and not to stifle or frustrate it.
Tanui claims he was not a member of any committees that approved the award of tender to Redline.
He said the tender being a technical procurement and without technical knowledge of transformers, he could only rely on the documents presented to him authorising payment.
