BY SAM ALFAN.
Attempt by Director of Public Prosecution Noordin Haji to lock former Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa over Sh39.5billion fraud charges has flopped.
This after Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Kenneth Cheruyoit released Echesa on a cash bail of Shoes 1 million or bond of Sh 3 million pending hearing of the criminal case.
Echesa release on bail came after the magistrate concurred with his lawyer Cliff Ombeta that the former CS is not a flight risk and no compelling reasons tabled in court to warrant denial of bail.
While seeking to have the CS released on bail Ombetta informed the court that the state should prove that the accused will interfere but not base their argument on assumptions.
Ombetta said there was no compelling and convincing reasons why his client should be denied bail.
“For the prosecution to come and say that they will interfere with witnesses they must how they come to that conclusion. Not guessing not assuming “, said Ombetta.
He added that police did not require the accused since they do not work with service providers nor are they police officers to deal with issue of recording statement among others.
They also sought an order barring discussions in various platforms of matters relating to the case.
The lawyers further asked the court to bar Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu, Siaya Senator James Orengo, Francis Atwoli, who is Secretary-General of the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu), and other politicians from discussing the matter pending in court.
Former Sports Cabinet Secretary with his three Co-accused Daniel Otieno Omondi alias general Juma , Clifford Okoth Onyango alias Paul and Kennedy Oyoo Mboya were charged with multiple criminal charges over the multi-billion military tender. They denied all the fifteen charges.
Prosecution alleges that all accused persons obtained Sh 11.5 million from Kozlowski Stanley Bruno by falsely pretending they were in a position to award him a contract for supply and delivery of military equipment to the ministry of defense a fact they knew to be false.
The four are further accused of a attempting to obtaining She 39,544,200,000 from Bruno pretending he will be awarded the said tender by department of the defense.
Echesa alone is facing a charge of impersonating the personal assistant to the Deputy President William Ruto by presenting himself as so to Bruno and Mamdough Mostafa Amer Lofty.
Omondi alias general Juma is also accused of impasonating general Juma from KDF and was in position to award Bruno and Lofty a tender for agreement for supply, delivery, installation, commissioning and maintenance of integrated security surveillance system.
The accused persons further faced counts of conspiracy, making documents without authority and uttering false documents.
