A court in Nairobi has cleared former Lands minister Amos Kimunya and his co-accused in a Ksh60 million corruption case tied to the alleged irregular allocation of public land to Midlands Limited.
In a judgment delivered on Wednesday, May 6, Magistrate Harrison Barasa found that the prosecution had not proved the charges beyond reasonable doubt.
The case centred on allegations that Kimunya abused his office and fraudulently disposed of public property involving a 25-acre parcel carved out of land belonging to Njabini Farmers Training Centre in 2005.
However, the court said there was no evidence directly linking the former minister to the issuance of the letter of offer or showing that he improperly influenced the allocation process.
The magistrate observed that the letter of offer was signed by former Director of Land Adjudication and Settlement Lilian Wangari Njenga, and that the document did not indicate she acted on Kimunya’s instructions.
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The court also held that suspicion alone, without supporting evidence, was insufficient to secure a conviction, stressing that the burden of proof remained with the prosecution.
This comes a week after the Milimani Anti-Corruption Court acquitted former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko of a money laundering charge while ordering him to defend himself in an ongoing graft case.
In a ruling delivered on Thursday, April 30, Magistrate Isabella Barasa found that there was sufficient evidence to proceed with part of the case, even as it dismissed the money laundering charge due to lack of proof.
"The Milimani Anti-Corruption Court has placed former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko and his co-accused, Frederick Odhiambo Oyugi (trading as Yiro Enterprises), ROG Security Limited, and its director, Antony Otieno Ombok, on their defence in a corruption case involving the irregular award of a 2018 county tender," the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) said in a statement.
Barasa stated that the prosecution had established a case to answer on four counts, including conspiracy to commit an economic crime, conflict of interest, and acquisition of proceeds of crime.
The case centres on a 2018 Nairobi City County contract awarded to Yiro Enterprises for the hire of heavy equipment, where investigators linked Sonko to an indirect financial interest.
"Sonko is alleged to have received Ksh8.4 million through multiple accounts at Equity Bank from businessman Odhiambo, through ROG Security Limited," EACC added.
The prosecution further told the court that the alleged scheme involved coordination between the accused persons over a short period in December 2018.
"The court heard that Sonko, alongside his associate Odhiambo and communications adviser Ombok, conspired between December 27 and 28, 2018, to commit a corruption offence involving suspected proceeds of crime amounting to Ksh14.1 million. The prosecution called 10 witnesses to support its case," EACC further said.
Barasa ruled that the evidence presented met the legal threshold required to put the accused on their defence, paving the way for the next phase of the trial.
The matter will be mentioned on June 4 for directions ahead of the defence hearing.
