The war of words between the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and Kimilili MP Didmus Baraza over invite to answer to questions on allegations concerning a civil debt, heightened after the lawmaker said he will take legal action.

Through lawyer Manyonge Wanyama, the MP demanded that the EACC stop harassing and apologises to his client within seven days for the humiliation he has been subjected to.

“If you do not apologize as demanded, we will take precipitate action to protect the legal interests of our client. In the meantime, under a separate cover will be lodging a formula complaint to the Director of Public Prosecutions for their intervention,” reads the letter to the anti-graft agency.

In a rejoinder, EACC through the Head of Corporate Affairs Eric Ngumbi, said the process to deal with a suspect is well stipulated and will be applied when need be.

Pursuing claims

According to the MP, instead of pursuing the claim and prosecuting the said matter in a civil court, the complainant appears to have lodged a complaint with the EACC, which without any colour of right and want of jurisdiction proceeded to summon him.

“When we raised concerns about the propriety and legality of the summons, EACC camouflaged the matter as one of bribery. To put unsavory pressure on our client, the EACC leaked the matter to the media and began prosecuting the issue there,”

“Our client has further instructed us that he has explained the debt issues in a formal letter, which provides a complete and satisfactory response, but EACC appears to be pushing the matter with unexplained vengeance, hackneyed vindictiveness, and a sinister motive, which our client deciphers as a solely meant to harass and publicly humiliate him,” states the MP.

Baraza has earlier vowed that he will not honour summons to appear before the anti graft agency over a Sh2 million bribery claim.
The commission in the summons had alleged that the MP solicited and received the money from the businesswoman, a contractor, with a promise to influence the award of Government tenders to her.

According to the anti-graft agency, the lawmaker cut off communication after receiving the money and has allegedly been evading her since December 2023 when he received the money.

Worked together

But Baraza has maintained that the said money was a soft loan from the businesswoman who is a person known to him having worked together in the 2022 election.

“This is therefore to bring to your attention that I will not honour the summons as this is purely abuse of the mandate of the commission. You cannot invite me to interpret for you the reasons why the cash was transferred when you read the documents that supported the transfer of the funds because while the wiring amount is more than US$1million, you must provide support documents,” Baraza wrote in response to the summons.

The outspoken lawmaker accused the anti-corruption agency of acting as a debt collecting agent adding that the matter between him and the businesswoman is a civil matter which cannot by all means be turned into a criminal one.

“I’m ready to meet her in court if she pushes it there but appearing before EACC is out of question for now,” Baraza told People Daily.

He said the commission has since changed, backtracked on her reasons for earlier summons, and paraphrased the second summon to facilitate an investigation of bribery claims to coerce him to pay.

“I would like to bring to your attention that the deposit of Sh2,000,000 to my cooperative bank account was a soft loan from the said politician who unsuccessfully ran for governor in a county in Kenya on December 13, 2023. Its clear form of the documents that were forwarded to the bank to facilitate transfer clearly indicated soft loan; you can peruse them. Why I haven’t paid because of the dispute in the contractual conditions is none of your business,” Baraza explains.

He adds; “The said matter was reported to DCI Karen and was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction since this is purely a civil matter.”