BY NT CORRESPONDENT.
All 47 accused persons charged over the multi-billion scandal at the National Youth Service (NYS) have been granted bail pending hearing and determination of their case.
“I find that the respondent has not satisfied this court that the applicants and their co-accused should not be admitted to bail. Even as I grant bail I am alive to the seriousness of the charges the applicants and co-accused are facing. I also note that the total number of the applicants and co accused is about forty one and they range from senior government officers to junior officers in the Ministry and various departments. All these factors must be taken into account so that the terms and conditions of the bail/bond
cut across the spectrum” ruled the judge.
High court justice Hedwig Ogundi granted the accused persons a cash bail of 1 millions shillings each, asked to deposit bond of 5 millions shillings and a sureity of 2 millions shillings each.
“Each to execute a bond of Kshs 5 Million plus a surety of Kshs 2 Million to be approved by any of the Chief Magistrates of the Anti Corruption Court. The approval will be done in ACC No 8 of 2018 and
will apply to all other files” ruled Judge.
The court further directed the accused persons not to leave the jurisdiction of the chief magistrate,and to deposit their traveling documents with the court.
Ong’udi noted, however, that they cannot contact witnesses.
The suspects were also ordered to surrender their passports and were barred from accessing their offices without police officers.
They are also expected to report to the DCI office once a week pending their trial.
They were also ordered to attend court for mentions and hearings whenever called upon to do so.
Further the accused Leona who include Former NYS Director Richard Ndubai and PS Lilian Omollo ,businessmen and women and public servants have been ordered not to go back to their offices or interfere with witnesses lined up by the prosecution.
NYS suspects appealed a decision denying them bail.James Thuita and Yvonne Wanjiku Ngugi through lawyer Mwanza Gachie claim that the Magistrate Douglas Ogoti failed to uphold the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.
They say that they should have been granted bail because they would have given an undertaking to appear before court whenever called upon.
In the appeal, they say the prosecutor did not present any evidence at all to show that the applicant were likely to abscond court in the event they were granted bail.
They also claim that they are sickly and in dire need of specialized treatment.
The magistrate, they say failed to consider application for bail on their own merits and delivered an omnibus ruling for all accused persons based on social media outburst against corruption.
While denying the accused persons bail, Mr Ogoti took judicial notice of the fact that social media has been airing instances of economic crimes on almost day to day basis.
The two also claimed that the magistrate passed judgment against the accused person and found them guilty before they were even tried for alleged offence.
