BY HARRIET MUGO
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua can now breathe easy after the lead detective from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations sought to have the Ksh7.3 billion graft case against the DP withdrawn on grounds that he was compelled to implicate him.
In an affidavit filed in court, Kuria Obadiah alleges that his team was under immense pressure from their former DCI boss George Kinoti to make recommendations that would put Gachagua in the dock.
Due to the rush to charge Gachagua, the detective says, crucial areas were not covered in the investigations.
“There are crucial areas of investigations that were not adequately covered in the course of our investigations that would shed some light in determining the culpability or otherwise of the accused persons charged,” Obadiah says in the affidavit.
Obadiah told the court that it would be prejudicial to continue with the case against the former Mathira Member of Parliament and nine others because of the gaps in the investigations.
He asked the court to drop the matter under Section 87 (a) of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Several officers in Obadiah’s team are also said to have recanted their earlier statements implicating Gachagua in corruption, amid the DP’s stand that the case was politically instigated.
Sources in the know say the DCI officers were required to present documents and files covering five areas for the case to proceed but failed to do so forcing the protection to seek a review of the case when the matter came up for mention at the Milimani Law Courts on Monday, October 17, 2022.
Milimani Anti-Corruption Magistrate Victor Wakumile granted the Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji three weeks to review the case against Gachagua and his co-accused persons.
