Court cases need viable evidence to proceed to ruling, but supposedly that was not the case for a case against Lugari Member of the National Assembly Ayub Savula, as on Tuesday, the accused claimed that most of the evidence he was supplied with was illegible.
Savula is facing various charges over allegations of stealing Kshs122 Billion at the Government Advertising Agency (GAA).
The MP, who is accused alongside his two wives, Melody Gatwiri and Hellen Jepkorir, complained that the 45,000 copies of photocopied witness statements were not clear hence illegible.
Through his lawyers Karathe Wandugi, Cohen Amanya and over 20 others, the MP further demanded that the state be compelled to supply them with other statements that are legible.
“It is a constitutional right for all the accused persons to be supplied with statements to prepare their defences,” stated lawyer Wandugi.
As a result, Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi directed the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to provide the documents to the defendant to make copies.
The troubled MP is facing various felony counts including forgery, obtaining money by false pretences and conspiracy to steal from the state.
On October 30, 2018, Savula was subsequently arraigned in court where he denied the charges and was freed on a Ksh1 Million cash bail or Ksh2 Million bond.
GAA buys advertising space on behalf of government departments and agencies, collects payments, and is supposed to pay media firms but has not been remitting the funds.
When GAA was set-up in 2012, it was supposed to help the government cut down on advertising expenses.
However, some parastatals were reportedly complaining that their advertising costs had increased but they were not getting the kind of response they ordinarily did when they advertised directly.