Nock bosses out on Ksh200,000 bond, Soi admitted in hospital

Nock bosses out on Ksh200,000 bond, Soi admitted in hospital

Two National Olympics Committee-Kenya (Nock) officials, vice-chairman Pius Ochieng and Secretary General, Francis K Paul, were released on a Ksh200,000 bond while a third, Chef-de-Mission, Stephen arap Soi, failed to show up in court on Monday after reportedly being admitted at Nairobi Hospital.

In releasing them, Senior Principal Magistrate Charity Olouch said the matter will be mentioned on September 19 as she set tough conditions including; reporting report twice a week to the Serious Crimes Unit at the Directorate of Criminal Investigation headquarters starting this Friday.

The accused should not appear at any premises owned or controlled by Nock, should not contact any possible witnesses in regards to the ongoing investigation, should deposit their passports in court immediately and should not move out of the country without the express permission of the court.

The prosecution asked for time to verify the admission document for Soi who was released on police bond on Sunday where it is reported he was soon taken to hospital and the judge obliged and pushed his case to Wednesday at 3.00 pm local time (+3GMT).

The defence told the court that Soi was unwell and admitted at Nairobi Hospital where he was rushed after he was released from custody on a Ksh50,000 police bond on health grounds on Sunday.

Earlier, the prosecution had applied for the three Nock officials to be detained at Nairobi’s Muthaiga Police Station for 21 days for investigations to find out whether there was criminal culpability on the part of the respondents in the Rio 2016 fiasco.

State prosecutor, Duncan Ondimu, through an affidavit sworn by police officer Mike Kingoo Muia, told the court that investigations against the three and other persons not yet in custody relates several offences among them abuse of office, theft and neglect of official duty.

He added majority of the statement to be recorded include several sports personalities who represented the country in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and the said persons are in different towns in the country and others are yet to be back in the country.

“The investigation will stretch as far as from the day the National Trials were conducted, the residential training and up to the manner in which the Kenyan team to Rio Olympic Games was managed to be able a determination if there was criminal culpability against the suspects and other persons who are at large,” argued Ondimu.

Paul’s defence lawyer Julius Kitheka urged the judge to deny the prosecution’s application on grounds that the threshold for denying the respondent their freedom has not been met.

The application was however objected by the respondents’ defence, Julius Githeka for Paul and Edward Rombo for Ochieng saying the prosecution was acting so because of pressure from the public.

“My clients is not capable of interfering with witnesses,” Githeka argued as he opposed the second condition saying that as the administrative officer of Nock, Paul has employees to look after and he could not operate since all Nock computers were confiscated by police.

-Additional reporting by Eric Kagunda

Tags:

NOCK Stephen arap Soi Pius Ochieng Francis K Paul

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