Court reinstates Kimunya Ksh60m corruption charges

Two months after losing his Kipipiri parliamentary seat, former Leader of Majority in the National Assembly Amos Kimunya suffered another blow when the High Court reinstated a Sh60 million graft case against him.

Justice Esther Maina of the High Court’s Anti-Corruption division overturned an earlier decision by a lower court that had cleared Kimunya and his two co-accused of the charges.

This means Kimunya and his co-accused Lilian Wangiri Njenga (former Director of Lands Adjudication and Settlement) and Jughae Wainaina, (chairman of Midlands Ltd) will have to face a fresh trial over the case after the judge put them on their defence.

DPP appeal

“I hereby find that the appeal by the DPP has merit and is allowed. The defendants Amos Kimunya and three others are put on their defence,” Justice Maina ruled.

The decision comes after Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji had in May 2021 appealed the acquittal of the former Kipipiri MP and two others.

The judge also directed the two to appear before Nairobi Anti-corruption Chief Magistrate Lawrence Mugambi on November 11 for further directions failure to which a warrant of arrest would be issued.

Justice Maina ruled that the prosecution proved counts one, three, four, five and eight and found that count two was defective.

The former Kipipiri MP will now defend himself on allegations of abusing his office by allocating public land to Midlands Limited, a company he is associated with.

He is said to have effected the transfer on June 30, 2005, when he served as the Land’s minister.

Erred in law

Kimunya was charged alongside Wangiri, a former director of Land Adjudication and Settlement in the Land ministry, who also faced a breach of the trust charge.

Haji had moved to the High Court seeking orders to quash the lower court’s decision to acquit the three over graft charges.

The DPP argued in the appeal that the trial magistrate erred in law by not considering the overwhelming evidence on record and went ahead to acquit the MP under section 210 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC).

“The magistrate erred in law and fact by failing to properly consider the weight of the charges against the evidence adduce,” said the DPP.

In acquitting all the accused persons, Magistrate Felix Kombo had said no prima facie case had been established against them.

According to the magistrate, the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

The reinstatement of the case is a double blow for Kimunya who lost his Kipipiri parliamentary seat in the August 9 General Election to United Democratic Alliance (UDA) candidate, former Nyandarua Woman Rep, Wanjiku Muhia.

The political star of the one-time Finance minister, and later Lands Minister, in the government of President Mwai Kibaki, seems to have grown dimmer following the court setback.