EACC wants me in court, says Charity Ngilu

Members of the press outside Integrity Centre, the headquarters of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, on January 13, 2014. PHOTO | BILLY MUTAI |  NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

• Suspended CS accuses anti-graft body of contriving to get her charged in court by all means possible.

By NATION REPORTER
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Suspended Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu has written to the Director of Public Prosecutions, accusing the anti-graft agency of contriving to get her charged in court by all means possible.

And in what would seem to be an attempt to forestall the DPP from having her arraigned for allegedly obstructing EACC officers over the 134.4-acre Karen land investigations, Mrs Ngilu also provided documents.

She wrote to Mr Keriako Tobiko through her lawyers Muriu Mungai and Company Advocates, explaining the circumstances under which she clashed with the EACC over the title deed for the land.

Mr Nani Mungai, the letter’s author, told the DPP that the charge recommended against Mrs Ngilu relates to an incident in the course of the EACC’s investigations when it was interrogating the Chief Land Registrar, Ms Sarah Mwenda, over the matter.

Ms Mwenda had carried a file on the Karen land, which included the original title deed issued to Mr John Kamau Mugo, and which the EACC officers wanted to retain.

The registrar called Mrs Ngilu on her phone because according to her, the officers would have to follow the right procedure if they wanted to keep the documents.

This would involve writing to the principal secretary, who would then make copies of the originals to be taken away and then have the officers sign an inventory.

“It was for these reasons that the Chief Lands Registrar felt uncomfortable parting with the said title. When she called the CS, the CS concurred with her that if the EACC wished to keep the original title, they should comply with the laid down procedures,” Mr Mungai said in the letter.

An EACC officer interrogating Ms Mwenda then took her phone and spoke to Mrs Ngilu, the letter said, who gave the explanation, but the EACC still retained the title deed.

“How on earth can that telephone conversation by any stretch of the imagination be said to be “obstructing” EACC officials in their investigations?” asked Mr Mungai.

According to her lawyers, EACC has contrived the charge of obstruction in a bid to get her in court at any cost.

Mrs Ngilu has been cleared over the Waitiki Farm case, but another case on prime land on State House Crescent is still pending.