Will Kenya serve justice to named culprits in the Akashs case?
An official request from the United States government regarding individuals that Washington, DC wants to try for various offences related to the Akashas will determine what action the DPP’s office will take, and whether the named individuals will be tried in the US or locally following investigations.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has said prominent Kenyans named in bribery claims by drug traffickers Baktash and Ibrahim Akasha will not be secretly bundled out of the country and sent to the United States to stand trial as was done with the controversial siblings.
In an exclusive interview on Friday Mr Noordin Haji said that Kenya intends to co-operate fully with the United States’ in the efforts to prosecute more than 10 politicians, judges, businessmen and a lawyer for aiding the Akashas’ world-infamous drug trade.
But it will do so by following the extradition route and following judicial procedure.
The Akasha brothers were arrested by Kenyan authorities on January 28 last year in Mombasa alongside Pakistani national Gulam Hussein and Indian national Vijaygiri Goswami, before being handed over to the United States’ Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) two days later.
On January 30, the DEA bundled the four individuals into a plane and flew them to the United States, where they were slapped with drug trafficking charges.
Baktash and Ibrahim last month pleaded guilty to seven criminal charges, including trafficking in heroin and methamphetamine, popularly known as meth.
t the time, the brothers had filed a case at the Mombasa High Court to stop their extradition to the United States.
On the day of their extradition, Mombasa High Court judge Njoki Mwangi issued an order barring police boss Joseph Boinett and then Director of Criminal Investigations Ndegwa Muhoro from extraditing the drug barons. She also ordered that the Akasha brothers be produced before her.
Mr Haji holds that the Akashas were bundled out in that manner because previous attempts to follow extradition procedures had been frustrated.
“We have not completed the process between us and the US,” Mr Haji said in the interview. “We are privy to the investigations. We know the individuals but we have to wait for the request from the US before naming anyone. The reason extraordinary measures were taken with the Akashas was constant frustration. But at this point the Kenyan government will co-operate. We will try our best to ensure the law is followed.”