REVEALED: How DPP Haji is being used to kill Prof Ojienda’s ambition

Is DPP Noordin Haji being used to kill the ambitions of Prof Tom Ojienda? The Nairobi lawyer  has said DPP Noordin Haji is being used to ensure he is locked out of the upcoming Judicial Service Commission elections.

Ojienda was arrested on Friday over alleged financial misappropriation and fraudulent dealings at Mumias Sugar Company. He spent the weekend at Muthaiga police station in Nairobi where fellow lawyers pitched tent as they condemned his incarceration while seeking to free him on bond. He was eventually released on a police bond pending his arraignment.

But before he was arraigned at the magistrate’s court, Ojienda’s team of lawyers led by Okong’o Omogeni and nineteen others hurriedly obtained orders from the High Court stopping his prosecution.

Ojienda told Justice Chacha Mwita that the charges against him “ooze nothing short of recklessness, pure malice and abuse of office and witch hunt by the DPP and Directorate of Criminal Investigations”.

The charges, he said, are merely meant to ensure he is locked out of the forthcoming JSC elections.

He said the office of the DPP is a rogue institution abusing its powers. His lawyers told the court that issues dealing with clients’ fees can not be the basis for criminal charges against him.

“The DPPP in clear abuse of his constitutional powers intends to charge Ojienda on matters that purely relate to a contractual relationship of advocate and client,” said Omogeni. He also said there are similar matters pending before the Court of Appeal in relation to Mumias Sugar Company.

“What the DPP is saying is that he is the law unto himself. But he cannot be allowed to violate the rights of our client, who is a representative of lawyers in this country and a senior counsel, by maliciously arresting him on a Friday and locking him in all through the weekend. This is the kind of abuse we want the court to bring to a halt,” Omogeni said.

Justice Mwita issued orders prohibiting the DPP and the DCI from arraigning Ojienda. He also issued an order stopping further criminal investigations against Ojienda and any searches against him.

The judge said the matter raised substantial issues of law and that the court ought to determine whether the DPP is acting properly or abusing his powers.

“Should the court come to a conclusion that the DPP acted properly they will not have suffered any prejudice but if it arrives at a decision that it acted improperly, Ojienda will have been prejudiced. So there’s need for this court to intervene,” he said.

According to court documents, the charges relate to work done for Mumias Sugar. One of the counts relates to alleged “uttering of false documents contrary to section 353 of the Penal Code”

The particulars of that charge are that Ojienda uttered a false fiscal receipt between October 2012 and February 2014. The alleged fiscal receipt is in respect to various fee notes issued on account of work done for Mumias Sugar Company under his name.

A fiscal receipt is payment directed at the Kenya Revenue Authority. He says the charge is brought in contempt of a High Court petition in which orders were issued barring KRA and the DCI from arresting, investigating or commencing any criminal proceedings against him.

He says the two bodies are in contempt of court as they are purporting to sneak a charge that has been expressly stopped by a court order.

 

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