High Court overturns Amos Kimunya’s acquittal in Ksh60M land fraud case

By , K24 Digital
On Thu, 6 Oct, 2022 11:23 | 2 mins read
Amos Kimunya
Former Kipipiri MP Amos Kimunya (right) with two others when they appeared in court over Sh60m land fraud case.

Former Majority Leader of the National Assembly Amos Kimunya and three others have suffered a major setback after the High Court has overturned a lower court decision to acquit them of the Ksh 60 million land graft case.

In a judgement delivered by Justice Esther Maina of the High Court Anti-Corruption division, he set aside a lower court decision and ordered Kimunya and his three co-accused persons be put on their defense over the corruption allegations.

"I hereby find that the appeal by the DPP has merit and is allowed. The defendants Amos Kimunya and three others to be put on their defence," ruled Justice Maina.

The decision comes after Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji in May 2021 appealed the acquittal of the former lawmaker and the three.

The judge also directed the three to appear before Nairobi Anti-corruption Chief Magistrate Lawrence Mugambi on November 11 for further directions failure to which a warrant of arrest will be issued.

Justice Maina ruled that the prosecution proved counts 1,3,4,5 and 8 and found that count 2 is defective. 

The former Kipipiri MP was charged with allocating public land to Midlands Limited, a company associated with him. He is said to have effected the transfer on June 30, 2005, when he served as Lands minister.

He was charged alongside Lilian Wangiri, a former director of land adjudication and settlement within the Land ministry, who also faced a breach of trust charge.

Haji moved to the High Court seeking orders to quash the lower court decision of acquitting  Arama over graft charges for lack of evidence.

The DPP argued in the appeal petition that the trial magistrate erred in law by not considering the overwhelming evidence on record and went ahead to acquit the ex-lawmaker under section 210 of  Criminal Procedure Code (CPC).

"The magistrate erred in law and fact by failing to properly consider the weight of the charges as against the evidence adduce," says the DPP.
Magistrate Kombo in acquitting all the accused persons said no prima facie case had been established against them.

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