DPP Haji: Corruption cases worth Ksh.224 billion pending in court

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) is seeking to reclaim about Ksh.224 billion through successful conviction of cases currently pending in court.

DPP Noordin Haji on Sunday disclosed there are 317 corruption cases worth Ksh.224 billion that are before the courts awaiting hearing and determination.

Some of the high-profile cases pending in court involve County Governors facing corruption-related charges, the Arror and Kimwarer dams scandal as well as those involving officials at Kenya Power and Kenya Pipeline among others.

Haji further pointed out that since January 2018, his office had secured 98 convictions and is hoping to recover Ksh.3.5 billion from those cases. On the other hand, during the same period 106 cases were dismissed by the courts with the charged individuals being acquitted.

“This is a success in our opinion, considering that even though the acquittal figures are 106 which is a bit high if you look at the amounts its Ksh.213 million, but on the convictions the amounts we have been able to convict and hopefully we will be able to recover and that is about Ksh.3.5 billion,” said Haji in an interview with K24 TV.

The DPP dismissed accusations of political interference in his office saying, “the cases we have brought before court represent people from all walks of life. We review all our files based on the evidence that is brought to us.”

“We are all possible weaklings; from investigators to prosecutors to the Judiciary itself. It all depends on the case you present in court,” said Haji.

On the highly-politicized Arror and Kimwarer dams scandal, the DPP described the case as a complex one saying its prosecution has been dragged by numerous applications made in the High Court.

“Arror and Kimwarer matter is a very complex case. We have applied a number of mutual legal systems (MLS) to the UK and Italy and its giving us a lot of leads on probably where the funds were stashed or who was given what,” he said.