- Supreme Court had last year directed that the matter be heard to its logical conclusion
- It is back at the magistrate court that the DPP sought to drop charges against the three
Image: The Star
Former members of a tender committee at the Geothermal Development Company who were charged with a Sh42 million graft case will have their case heard to its full conclusion after a court declined a state application to drop the charges.
The Director of Public Prosecutions had on February 13 sought to have charges against Nicholas Weke, Peter Omenda and Caleb Indiatsi withdrawn under section 87 (a) of the criminal procedure code.
That move elicited sharp opposition from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission which argued that dropping the charges would be against public interest and the interest of justice.
Weke, Omenda and Indiatsi were charged alongside former GDC managing director Silas Simiyu, company secretary Praxidis Saisi and four other members of the tender committee.
The four are Abraham Saat, Michael Mbevi, Godwin Mwawongo and Bruno Linyuri.
They were all charged in 2015 before the anti-corruption court where they were accused of illegally awarding a Sh42.7 million tender to Bonfide Clearing and Forwarding company at an inflated cost.
The tender was for the procurement of rig move services on behalf of Geothermal Development Company.
But before the matter was heard and determined, the accused challenged their prosecution at the High Court saying the charges were based on a non-existent provision. The High Court subsequently quashed the trial proceedings.
The state then moved to the Court of Appeal that overturned the decision. The matter went all the way to the Supreme Court where the judges directed it proceeds on a priority basis.
It is back at the magistrate court that the DPP sought to drop charges against the three.
The prosecutor said it received requests from Weke seeking a review of the evidence in the matter.
“Upon review, it came to our attention that there was insufficient evidence to confirm that the rig move price was exaggerated, since it was unclear whether GDC conducted market survey to establish the market price for the rig moves and whether the same was communicated to the evaluation committee,” senior principal prosecution counsel Duncan Ondimu submitted.
But EACC said following the directive of the Supreme Court, the only option available is for the prosecution to institute proceedings against all the accused persons as initially charged.
Investigator Hassan Muhamud in his affidavit opposed the application by the DPP saying the intended withdrawal of the criminal charges against the accused has not been made in public interest.
“There is no new evidence that has come in possession of the applicant clearing any of the accused from the offences they are charged with to warrant withdrawal of the charges. It is in the interest of justice therefore that this matter proceeds to its logical conclusion on priority basis as directed by the Supreme Court,” he said.
In his ruling delivered on Wednesday, chief magistrate Thomas Nzyoki said the court declined DPP's request and directed the parties to appear in court on June 25 for pre-trial directions.
"The brief of the ruling is that the DPP request was declined, first based on the Supreme Court order that the case proceeds and also because the court feels the move is not in the interest of the administration of justice," Nzyoki said.
He said parties could access the full ruling from the registry.