THE National Assembly yesterday passed The Written Laws Miscellaneous Amendments Act 2016 which, among others, endorses the Corruption and Economic Crimes Division of the High Court whose penalties for grand corruption charges carries a minimum of 20 years imprisonment.
Tabling the Bill here, the Attorney
General (AG), Mr George Masaju, said that the minimum amount of money
involved in grand corruption cases to be handled by the division will be
1bn/-.
However, the Director of Public
Prosecution (DPP) can recommend other cases below that amount as he
deems fit. However, when the corruption and economic sabotage cases does
not include monetary terms, the division will also deal with issues of
drug, terrorism, money laundering, among others, due to their nature.
The AG has proposed amendments of five
Acts with the aim of improving delivery which include The Appellate
Jurisdiction Act, the Judicature and Application of Law Act, The
Economic and Organised Crime Control Act, The Magistrate Courts Act and
The Tax Revenue Appeals Act.
In the Economic and Organised Crime
Control Act, some of the changes made include the use of the word
‘document’ which prior to this development, accommodated only hard copy
whereas now it can allow the ‘electronic document’ as well.
The Chief Justice (CJ), for the smooth
implementation of the Act, reforms have been made which empower him to
prepare rules and regulations for running the division including
committal proceedings and preliminary hearing, witnesses and duties of
the division registrar.
As for the penalties, the Act calls for a
minimum of 20 years and maximum of 30 years in prison as penal measures
for corruption and economic sabotage convicts.
Currently, it was a sentence not
exceeding 15 years which gave room for a lenient sentence to be given to
convicted persons depending on judgment. “We have proposed a tough
sentence so that people can refrain from taking part in such offences,”
said the AG.
As for the assets under investigation,
the changes ban owners of firms to declare bankruptcy until when the
cases are over - a move which the Attorney General said will give chance
to the government to confiscate property when it wins a case.
Moreover, the court elders will not be
hearing the grand corruption cases instead a judge or a team of judges
will decide on economic and organised crime cases.
Under the new amendment, the Court of
Appeal can review its own decision or order while before the changes in
the Appellate Jurisdiction Act could only do so under the Court of
Appeal rules of 2009 which at times created conflict of laws in its
applications.
Moreover, the Corruption and Economic
Crime Division Court will have its own judges who will be specifically
for the division as it is the case with other High Court divisions.
The aim is to allow smooth and quick
hearing of the cases unlike before the changes when the judges were the
ones dealing with other criminal and civil cases.
The Act also commended for changes in
bail conditions where an accused person can deposit land titles as bond
which, in the past, needed cash deposits in economic sabotage cases
whose bail condition was more than 10m/-.
Moreover, witness protection is
guaranteed under the amendment whereas the Whistleblower and Witness
Protection Act rules will be applied in Corruption and Economic Crimes
contrary to the current law whereas the Inspector General of Police
(IGP) was tasked with protection of the witness and his/her family.
The move, he said, will conceal the
identity of the witness as well as give them freedom in testifying
before the court since the cases involve well off people and organised
criminals.
Thus the government has the mandate to
ensure the safety and security of witnesses in such cases. In The
Magistrate Court Act the changes are the primary court can now be
allowed to hear civil cases not exceeding 50m/- while the District and
Resident Magistrate Courts can sit before civil cases of between 200m/-
and 300m/-. Before the amendment it was 5m/-, 200m/- and 150m/-
respectively.
On the amendment made on the Tax Revenue
Appeals Act, the AG said the recommended increase of board members from
four to 12 to hasten hearing and decision on revenue cases so that in
case the government wins it can recover its revenue the earliest. Other
amendments made include setting academic qualifications for the would-be
board members who must be law or tax experts by profession.
The board Chairman of the Tax Revenue Appeal must be a judge, retired judge or anyone who has attained a higher judicial office.
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