Duale wants committee to make Justice Tunois graft probe report public

Duale wants committee to make  Justice Tunois graft probe report public

National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale has called on the Judicial Service Committee (JSC) Special Committee investigating bribery allegations against Justice Philip Tunoi to make their findings public.

Duale said that the matter at hand is of public interest and should be made public before the scheduled meeting between the six-member committee led by Public Service Commission chair Prof. Margaret Kobia and JSC Friday afternoon.

“The Judiciary as the temple of justice is on the spot. For the first time in the history of Kenya, the office of the Chief Justice and the Judiciary are on the spotlight,” said Duale.

“Kenyans want to know the truth about Justice Tunoi and the Supreme Court so we expect the committee to make the report public before going to the JSC.”

The Garissa Township MP raised concerns over a probable plot to doctor the report once it is handed to the JSC saying some of the members in the commission are “persons of interest” in the matter.

“Some of the players in JSC are stakeholder in this investigation. Tom Ojienda was Governor Evans Kidero’s lawyer while Smokin Wanjala was part of the Judges who wrote the Supreme Court verdict on Kidero. It is for this reason that the report should be released to Kenyans first lest it is doctored,” he said.

CJ Mutunga’s resignation

The Majority Leader said in case the committee finds that the bribery allegations against Justice Tunoi are true, then the Supreme Court Judges, led by its President Willy Mutunga should resign and the complainant, Ferdinand Waititu should go back to court to seek a reversal of the ruling.

“I am a friend of Chief Justice Dr. Willy Mutunga but on this one I will stand with Kenyans. The Chief Justice is indicted in a Public Accounts report to be debated next week indicating corruption in the Judiciary did not begin with Justice Tunoi.”

He called for the resignation of CJ Mutunga ahead of his retirement slated for mid this year over the corruption allegations facing the Judiciary.

Duale and Mutunga last week engaged in a “twitter war” over corruption allegations at the Judiciary and National Assembly.

Mutunga was swift to respond to Duale’s tweet claiming that the Judiciary had been marred by cases of corruption, with the CJ saying the level of corruption at the Judiciary does not surpass that experienced at the National Assembly.

The Garissa Township MP however said that the matter at hand was not about levels of corruption but the existence of it in the first place.

Duale, however, fell short of condemning the entire Judiciary and the Supreme Court saying other than a few individuals accused of corruption, there are others who have maintained integrity in executing their mandate.

Friday meeting

In its press briefing on Wednesday, the committee said that JSC had granted them a request to extend the deadline for the release of the report giving them time to crisscross the submissions given to ascertain their validity.

Prof. Kobia said that, the Wednesday deadline was impossible to meet noting that the committee will meet JSC on Friday at 2:30PM with their recommendations for further action.

“The committee was given today, February 3rd, as the deadline to submit its report and the findings to JSC. The committee has, however, not been able to complete the report and has sought and obtained extension of time from JSC to complete this work by February 5th before 5PM.”

“We will adhere to a fair and just process as we consider this matter. We thank all the persons who appeared before us and Kenyans for being patient as we await a decision regarding this matter,” she stated.

The Geoffrey Kiplagat and the Judge Tunoi are among nine individuals who appeared before the committee to give their statements on the matter, with the other seven people being considered “persons of interest” in the investigations.

Tunoi’s woes began after Kiplagat, a former KASS FM presenter, alleged that he had received Ksh 200 million from Nairobi Governor Dr. Evans Kidero to rule in his favour in an election petition filed by the now Kabete MP Ferdinand Waititu.

Lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi, who is also a member of JSC, threw the matter into further disarray by claiming that the amount that exchanged hands between Tunoi and Kidero was Sh300 million and not Sh200 million as earlier reported.

Waititu had moved to court after the 2013 General Election to challenge IEBC’s decision to announce Kidero as Nairobi Governor after garnering 692,483 votes against Waititu’s 617,839.

The Supreme Court reaffirmed Kidero’s election in August 2014 ending a protracted court battle that had lasted for over a year.

In his defence, Justice Tunoi said that the bribery allegations levelled against him are motivated by succession politics within the Judiciary.

He stated that he had neither met Kiplagat nor Dr Kidero before, adding that the former is being used by unnamed individuals who are keen on taking his position as Judge of the Supreme Court.

Kidero has also distanced himself from the allegations saying he has only seen Justice Tunoi on TV. The Nairobi governor also hit out at Ahmednasir over his allegations saying the city lawyer was vexed by his decision not to pick him as his lawyer.

Ahmednasir is reported to have asked Kidero for Sh25 million for his services, a charge that he said was rather modest.

If the Kobia-led committee finds the bribery allegations against Justice Tunoi to be true, it will recommend the formation of a tribunal for relevant action to be taken against him. This may also open a can of worms in regards to election appeals with cases against governors of Meru, Embu, Garissa and Nairobi likely to resurface.

If the investigations find the bribery allegations to be baseless, however, the committee will exonerate Justice Tunoi of the accusations.

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