BY SAM ALFAN.
The Director of Public Prosecution Noordin Haji has dismissed claims that officers from DCI attached to the Anti-Terror Police Unit were not invited to a multi-agency team meeting that formulated terror and terrorism financing guidelines.
Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Michael Sang said letters were sent on January 6, 2022 to the National Intelligence Service (NIS), Central Bank of Kenya (CBK); Chief Registrar of the Judiciary; National Police Service (NPS); Financial Reporting Centre (FRC); Asset Recovery Agency (ARA); National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) and Joint Terrorism Taskforce – Kenya (JTTF).
ATPU had claimed in a case seeking to quash the guidelines that their office did not receive the invitation and that the unit never participated in the deliberations.
Sang, however, said each office was asked to nominate two officers to attend the meeting.
“All agencies invited by the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Respondents sent nominated representatives to the consultative multi-stakeholder, multi-agency and multi sectoral consultative engagement in the spirit of Organizational Partnership to counter terrorism and combat terrorism financing,” Sang said.
Said added that the Inspector General of police Hillary N. Mutyambai attended the validation and launch of the inter-agency guidelines.
“The Inspector General of the Nation Police Service Hillary Mutyambai, MGH NSC (AU) being the commander of the 4th and 5th Respondents herein as provided under Article 245 of the Constitution and Section 8 of the National Police Service Act attended the validation and launch of the Interagency guidelines on Cooperation and Collaboration in Investigation and Prosecution of Terrorism and Terrorism Financing,” Sang added.
Sang states that the IG, being the Constitutional office holder alongside other principals, validated the guidelines by appending his signature.
He further said the launch of the document was a symbolic gesture of commitment, goodwill and dedication by all agencies in the fight against terrorism and the concerted multiagency efforts of combating terrorism financing.
Sang revealed that among the taskforce members who were nominated and attended the workshop are two officers from the DCI attached to the ATPU. He said the two officers’ are chief inspectors Stephen Ngereso Khamisi and Joseph Kolum.
“An additional taskforce member was Chief Inspector Eric Opagal Okisai (a DCI officer seconded to the Joint Terrorism Task Force- Kenya by the Director of Operations, DCI) under the auspices of 5th respondent,” he added.
The DPP says that the recently launched guidelines are the first of its kind in the continent of Africa; an indication as to how important the countering of terrorism and combating terrorism financing is to him and his office.
“Due to the organized and complex nature of terrorist groups, the same requires thorough investigations into suspected cases of Terrorism and Terrorism Financing while gathering sufficient evidence likely to secure upon prosecution, hence the need for a multiagency, multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral approach as adopted by the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Respondents alongside other relevant agencies in the drafting, formulation, and development of the Interagency Guidelines,” said Sang.
Further, the DPP says that the guidelines are in compliance with international standards and best practices and not mere newspaper articles or social media posts and blogs as severally alluded to by Ocharo.
In addition, Sang noted that Kenya conducted a mutual evaluation exercise on Anti-money Laundering / Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) in line with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations.
“FATF is the global money laundering and terror financing watchdog and formulation of the impugned guidelines was in compliance with FATF recommendations,” he added.
The DPP avers that the petition does not raise any constitutional issues requiring determination by the court.
“I pray that this Honorable Court be pleased to find the petition devoid of merit that throw in the fore a litany of allegations in a desperate attempt to find a cause of action and attention of this honorable court,” Sang states.
