The ODPP and Savannah Heights Limited and two directors have filed an application seeking to be enjoying in a case filed by Savannah Cement CEO Benson Sande Ndeta seeking to stay his Sh 4.5 billion criminal proceedings against him.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecution, Donald Kiboro Mwaura, John Gachanga Kaiganaine and Savannah Heights Limited claim that they have a direct and substantial interest in the continuation of the criminal proceedings and stands to be directly affected by the outcome of these proceedings.
Through lawyer Danstan Omari, the the court heard that the intended interested parties joinder will assist the court in arriving at a just and informed determination.
“This application seeks to stay criminal proceedings, the continuation of which is a matter of public interest and concerns the proper administration of justice,” Omari stated.
Ndeta moved to the High Court seeking to stay criminal proceedings against him where he is charged alongside Charles Hill Jr.
Omari stated that an identical or substantially similar application was previously placed before the court whereby Justice Bahati Mwamuye considered the matter in its entirety and dismissed the application to stop the prosecution.
According to a supporting affidavit by Kaiganaine, he is aware of the that Justice Mwamuye dismissed the application to halt prosecution.
“Justice Bahati Mwamuye expressly found that the Director of Public Prosecutions acted within its constitutional and statutory mandate in instituting the impugned criminal proceedings, having been guided by sufficient evidence, public interest considerations and the proper exercise of prosecutorial discretion under Article 157 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 thereby not abusing its prosecutorial discretion and not acting in bad faith while instituting the criminal proceedings,” Kaiganaine added.
Justice Mwamuye further held that the prosecution enjoys a presumption of legality and ought to proceed unhindered and the merits of the allegations are properly to be tested and determined by the trial court and not the constitutional court.