Sonko acquitted of the Ksh 20M graft charges
Sonko acquitted of the Ksh 20M graft charges by an Anti-Corruption Court in a ruling delivered on Wednesday
Sonko acquitted of the Ksh 20M graft charges by an Anti-Corruption Court in a ruling delivered on Wednesday.
Reprieve for former Nairobi County Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko after being cleared of corruption charges in connection with the misappropriation of funds during the awarding of contracts at City Hall by an anti-corruption court.
The charges could not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt, the court found in a decision issued by Chief Magistrate Douglas Ogoti on December 21.
“I find that the prosecution has failed to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. The entire case against all accused persons collapses under section 210 Criminal Procedure Code (CPC); they are now all acquitted,” Ogoti noted.
Sonko was accused of conspiring with businessman Antony Ombok Jamal to defraud the Nairobi county government of about Ksh20 million in 2019.
Further, Sonko was charged with misusing Ksh357 million from City Hall by the Director of Public Prosecution Noordin Haji.
The 13 graft allegations brought by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) against Sonko and Jamal, however, were all found to be invalid by Magistrate Ogoti.
Ogoti pointed out that the ODPP had not presented any evidence identifying the companies thought to be involved in the bribery.
Ogoti added that there was no evidence provided in court proving that money had been stolen from Nairobi County.
Assa Nyakundi, the defense attorney for Mike Sonko, praised the magistrate for administering justice appropriately and pointed out that neither Sonko nor Jamal had a case to answer.
“The evidence tailored against him was heavily criticized by the defence and even the magistrate said that. Overall, the charges were incurable defective,” Nyakundi stated.
Speaking after the ruling, the former governor insinuated that the case was a political war to get him out of office.
“Someone wanted to control Nairobi and made up the charges to remove me from office but God has proven them wrong,” stated Sonko.
He further expressed his confidence that the rest of his charges will be dropped in the near future, stating that he had gone through a lot of pain due to the witch-hunt.
“I want to ask Kenyans to continue praying for me so that the remaining cases are dropped as well because you all know what we went through while in leadership,” Sonko added.
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