Thursday, November 10, 2022 – Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua can now breathe a sigh of relief after Director of Public Prosecutions Noodin Haji finally dropped his Sh7.3 billion corruption case.
Haji applied to withdraw corruption charges against Gachagua at the Milimani Anti-Corruption Court in Nairobi.
In his plea, the DPP argued that the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) had failed to provide additional information regarding the matter, hence crippling the investigations.
The prosecution stated that withdrawing the charges would allow the team to conduct further investigations and review the alleged corruption case.
ODPP reportedly reached out to the DCI seeking the original files and exhibits used to arrest and charge Gachagua, albeit with no fruition.
The DCI, according to the DPP, snubbed a meeting set to review the evidence as the prosecution worked to enhance its preparedness for the case.
“In light of the request to review, the prosecution team sat and reviewed the evidence and realized that we were not able to respond to the letters without the evidence we had requested from the DCI at the time we were charging,” the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) told the magistrate.
“DCI did not respond to our request, nor did they avail the original files and the exhibits required to enable us to study the file again,” she added.
On his part, the Deputy President, through his lawyer Kioko Kilukumi, welcomed the decision by the ODPP to withdraw the charges against him.
He argued that the move to prefer charges without complete information was unjustifiable and a testament to the abuse of power by state institutions.
Gachagua further condemned how he was arrested and suffered at the hands of the DCI operatives.
The case will be mentioned on Thursday, November 10.
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