Court declines to vary Gachagua fraud case dates

Attempts by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji ‘s attempts to have the Sh7.4 billion corruption case against Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua commence before the August General Elections flopped yesterday after a Nairobi court dismissed his move terming it as mischievous.

In a ruling, trial magistrate Rose Makungu declined to vary her earlier directive to have the corruption case heard as from September saying the DPP’s new application lacked merit as he did not avail fresh details on why he wants the dates brought forward to June.

“I find it mischievous for the DPP to seek variation of the hearing dates set in this case. The court record shows that the prosecution on December 7, 2021 was represented in court by three prosecutors who actively participated when all parties agreed by consensus to block hearing dates from September this year,” Makungu ruled.

The magistrate also raised concern as to why the DPP was seeking to review the hearing dates given for September to earlier dates in June this and yet he is yet to supply Gachagua and his co-accused with all the evidence he intends to use in the matter during trial.

“If the prosecution had complied with pretrial orders and supplied the accused persons herein with all the documents, nothing would have stopped this court from having the matter kick off early. Currently, the accused have not received all documents to even enable prepare their defence,” she stated.

Makungu however ordered the DPP to serve all the accused persons with all witness statements and evidence material before February 24 when the case was fixed for pretrial conference.

The magistrate said it would not be possible to vary the cluster of dates fixed in the months of September, October and November this year as the court’s diary is also clogged with other graft cases.