High Court dismisses bid to transfer Okoth Obado’s corruption case to Migori

By , K24 Digital
On Wed, 24 Feb, 2021 11:54 | < 1 min read
Okoth Obado
Migori Governor Okoth Obado. [PHOTO | FILE]
Migori Governor Okoth Obado. PHOTO | FILE

The High Court has dismissed an application to transfer a corruption case against Migori Governor Okoth Obado and other county officials to Migori Law Courts.

Justice James Wakiaga dismissed an application by one of the accused, saying 12 other accused persons are comfortable with the matter being heard in Nairobi.

Joram Opala Otieno, through his lawyer George Kithi, had argued that Milimani Law Courts has no jurisdiction since the offense was committed in Migori.

Otieno had asked the court to either strike out the corruption court or transfer it to Migori.

He had also argued that the potential witnesses reside in Migori County as well as the accused persons hence there is a blatant disregard of cost, locus and convenience of the trial.

But the Anti-Corruption Court declined to stop the request to stop the hearing of the matter in the High Court.
 
In his ruling, Nairobi Chief Magistrate Lawrence Mugambi said that there has been no stay in the two matters challenging the court jurisdiction.

"This court has concluded the pre-trial conference. Unless there is an order to stop the proceedings, the court will be speculating on what will be the outcome. I'll fix the hearing dates in a month's time," ruled Mugambi.