High court has stopped the intended prosecution of the National Water Harvesting and Storage Authority acting Chief Executive Officer.
Justice George Odunga further prohibited the Directorate of Criminal Investigation from instituting criminal proceedings against Eng. Geoffrey Sang unless the same are instituted through the Director of Public Prosecution.
The judge declared the move by DCI to institute proceedings against Sang as ultra vires of his powers and therefore unconstitutional and unsustainable.
“The Directorate of Criminal Investigations has no powers and Authority to institute criminal proceedings before a court of law without prior consent from the DPP and any proceedings so commenced are unconstitutional, illegal, unlawful, null and void,” the judge ruled.
Justice Odunga further ruled that any evidence obtained in violation of the law is only to be excluded where its admission would render the trial unfair or otherwise detrimental to the administration of justice.
Sang was appointed as the acting CEO of the authority after resolution of the board made during the 6th special full board meeting held on 18th November 2019 for a period of six months until a substantive chief executive officer was appointed effective November 18,2019.
The petitioner stated that officers from DCI visited his office on 24th April this year and informed him that they were conducting investigations touching on his conduct at the Authority and required him to accompany them to DCI’s headquarters for interrogation.
He stated that the said officer never served him any summons from the DCI or any documents detailing the nature of the investigation or allegations levelled against him which they were investigating.
He added that he was arrested alongside acting procurement manager Lydia Korir and chief human resources officer Joseph Odhiambo.
“I was questioned over the appointment of the acting procurement officer Lydia Korir and further regarding my role in the hiring of strangers at the Authority to wit Noah Too, Peter Better and Nixon Korir.
He termed the allegations against him as malicious and motivated by sheer witch-hunt which is evinced by the fact that one of the strangers alleged to have been hired by the petitioner Noah Too is a deceased having been passed on 5th May 2015 and payroll presented to detectives indicated the alleged strangers are not in the Authority payroll.
Sang says he was never questioned regarding any money lost in a dam project and specifically the Naku’etum peace dam in Turkana and publication indicating he was questioned over the same were erroneous, malicious and spiteful to portray him as a corrupt individual.
In response, the DPP said there was no dispute that police have powers to investigate an alleged crime and if there is sufficient evidence they will make a decision to charge the suspect.
The court heard that the petitioner did not demonstrate that investigations done by the police and any criminal proceedings which may be preferred against him have been done in excess or without the jurisdiction by the DPP
The DPP submitted Sang has not provided sufficient evidence to show that the DCI exceeded their jurisdiction or breached the principles of natural justice when they summoned him to record a statement.
