Fresh hitch hits Anglo-Leasing trial

The Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi. PHOTO | FILE 

By VINCENT AGOYA, vagoya@ke.nationmedia.com

In Summary

• Senior principal magistrate Felix Kombo, presiding at the anti-corruption court at Milimani, said that it was unlawful to “try accused persons who have not taken plea.”
• Prosecutor Jacob Ondari had asked the court to enter a plea of not-guilty in the absence of the three parties so that the hearing of the case could begin.
• Lawyers representing suspects in the case objected, saying that the case would be prejudiced since their defence was pegged on the absentees.

A fresh hitch has hit the decade-old Anglo-Leasing case after a trial court Tuesday overruled an attempt to start proceedings in the absence of key suspects.

Senior principal magistrate Felix Kombo, presiding at the anti-corruption court at Milimani, said that it was unlawful to “try accused persons who have not taken plea.”

“The court has no jurisdiction to try an accused person who has not taken plea,” the magistrate ruled, referring to an American, Brian Mills, who has an international warrant of arrest pending against him and two companies--Sound day Corporation and Apex Finance Corporation.

The two companies allegedly received multiple payoffs for the “phantom” supply of security systems upgrade for the police in which the government is said to have lost over Sh10.4 billion.

Prosecutor Jacob Ondari had asked the court to enter a plea of not-guilty in the absence of the three parties so that the hearing of the case could begin but lawyers representing other suspects in the case, including businessmen Deepak Kamani, his father Chamanlal Kamani and brother Rashmi Kamani, objected, saying that the case would be prejudiced since their defence was pegged on the absentees.

“The right to fair trial cannot be taken away,” the magistrate ruled.

He observed that the international warrant of arrest against Mr Mills “remains unexecuted to date while the companies named in the case had no representation in court.”

The magistrate said that the defence team had submitted that the case was built around the two companies and thus may suffer prejudice if proceedings start in their absence.

He said the prosecution was thus left with the option of amending the charges for the case to proceed.

Lawyers Kioko Kilukumi, Fred Ngatia, Paul Nyamodi and Edward Oonge Tuesday told the trial court that their defence “is built around the two companies as they are the ones alleged to have been awarded the suspicious security contracts” that led to the Anglo Leasing scam.

They said their clients would be disadvantaged “because of failure by the DPP to execute his functions.”

However, Mr Ondari was categorical that the absence of the three parties could not affect the case of the accused person before the court.
Mr Ondari asked for time to amend the charge sheet.

They are charged alongside  former provincial administration Permanent Secretary Dave Mwangi, former Treasury head of debt management David Onyonka and former Finance Permanent Secretary Joseph Magari.

The court set Thursday for a mention for “further directions.”