A High Court clerk and a secretary attached to a judge have been arrested by EACC detectives for receiving part of a Sh2 million bribe at the Milimani Law Courts.
The two are alleged to have collected the cash from a member of the public who wanted to influence the outcome of a case.
The secretary and clerk attached to High Court and Judicial Review Judge Roselyne Aburili were on Friday afternoon arrested, detained and questioned after receiving treated money believed to have been demanded for a yet-to-be-established reason.
The EACC has not confirmed whether the money was to be handed over to the judge, but investigations to establish where the cash was being taken are ongoing.
EACC investigators recovered over Sh1 million of the treated money from the two suspects.
Justice Aburili is reported to have cooperated with the EACC investigators over the alleged bribery.
She is the judge who on Thursday January 5, 2017, suspended the implementation of the new election laws requiring candidates to name their campaign team and open campaign fund accounts.
Expert comment: Corruption is still in full swing in the Judiciary
Justice Aburili issued temporary orders following an ODM application objecting to the December 8, 2016, deadline for aspirants to disclose their campaign finances, saying it is vague, since public servants who seek to run in the August 8 polls have yet to resign.
Chief Justice David Maraga yesterday confirmed that he had received the allegation late Friday afternoon – and instructed the EACC to investigate the matter.
“I confirm I know of the allegation and confirm that arrests were made. I received the allegations on Friday late afternoon and instructed the EACC to take action because the Judiciary does not have its own investigating arm. I believe the arrests made by the EACC were pursuant to my request,” the CJ said.
Justice Maraga said that the information is still sketchy, but he expects to get more information today.
According to EACC spokesman Yasin Amaro, the bribery allegations were reported to them by the Office of the Judiciary Ombudsman. The Judiciary Ombudsman is Kennedy Bidali.
“I can confirm that two people, including a court clerk and secretary, were on Friday arrested and some money recovered from them. The investigation is still fresh and there is need to unravel the truth. The money had not reached its destination and we are carrying out further investigation to establish whom it was meant for. We want to know why the two were taking the bribe and who it was for,” Amaro said.
Several judicial officials and other people are scheduled to be interrogated beginning today, following the recovery of the money from the clerk and secretary in the latest bribery scandal to hit the Judiciary.
In January 2016, a former Kass FM journalist, Geoffrey Kiplagat, submitted an affidavit to Chief Justice Willy Mutunga alleging that Justice Philip Tunoi of the Supreme Court received a Sh200 million bribe from Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero to rule in his favour in an election petition filed by Kabete MP Ferdinand Waititu.
The Judicial Service Commission formed a six-member committee to investigate the allegations within seven days, although Justice Tunoi continued to maintain his innocence and said the allegations were a smear campaign ahead of a decision over who should succeed CJ Mutunga.
During the 2003 “radical surgery” reforms of the Judiciary by the Justice Aaron Ringera Commission, 23 out of 45 Court of Appeal and High Court judges, as well as 82 out of 254 magistrates, were declared corrupt.
The Ringera Commission recommended the immediate prosecution of the judges implicated, and they were given two weeks to resign over corruption or face tribunals to defend themselves. Some of those declared corrupt and unfit to hold office were later cleared of the allegations and returned to work.
Immediately after his appointment as CJ, Maraga admitted that there are Judiciary staff, including judges and clerks, who are corrupt, and vowed weed them out.
“We have been accused of abetting corruption, and, as per my statistics, around 10 per cent of our staff are involved in this vice. We will strengthen the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate corruption cases. The office will investigate the cases then hand them to the JSC and we shall take decisive action against any judge found guilty,” Maraga said in his first public speech after appointment.
On Friday, the CJ transferred several judges, but retained the controversial Judge George Odunga in a High Court unit that provides a judicial check on national government actions.
Odunga will be the head of Judicial Review at the High Court in Milimani, Nairobi.
Also serving in the same division is Justice Aburili, who last week suspended the law that required politicians vying for elective posts to name campaign teams by the first week of December 2016.
In the transfer, the newly launched Anti-Corruption Court also got a boost, when the CJ posted one more judge to the division.
High Court judge Lydia Achode has been moved from the Family Division to join Judge Hedwig Ong’undi in the Anti Corruption Court.
The Anti-Corruption Court was launched with the objective of speeding up graft-related cases. This came after the Executive complained about the Judiciary being the weakest link in the war on corruption.
Those who will serve in the Family Division of the High Court in Nairobi are justices Aggrey Muchelule, William Musyoka, Rose Ougo, Margaret Muigai, Farah Mohammed and John Nyabuto.
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