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Why Justice Sankale Ole Kantai Was Nabbed By DCI

February 21, 2020
3 Min Read

Why was Justice Sankale ole Kantai of the Court of Appeal was arrested by DCI sleuths? Our sources allege that his arrest was politically engineered and executed early today when he was nabbed and driven to DCI headquarters along Kiambu road.

Court of Appeal Judge Sankale ole Kantai is now embroiled in the murder case of businessman Tob Cohen. He was arrested in Kiembeni, Mombasa and then brought to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters in Nairobi. He recorded a statement with homicide detectives before being released.

It still remains unclear why he was arrested and what the details of his statement entail. This comes barely two weeks after the main murder suspect Sarah Cohen, who is out on bail, contested her late husbands’ will claiming it was forged.

Tob Cohen murder: Questions after Judge Sankale ole Kantai whisked to DCI HQ
Why Justice Sankale Ole Kantai Was Nabbed By DCI [image|RMG]
The DCI has not, on their sid, responded nor issued out a reason why the Court of Appeal Judge was arrested in Nairobi.Justice Kantai was among several judges affected by a reshuffle in February 2019. Chief Justice David Maraga transferred him from Nyeri to Nairobi, alongside Malindi’s Justice Wanjiru Karanja and Kisumu’s Hannah Okwengu and Jamila Mohammed. The Judiciary noted that the transfers were normal and routinely, in line with the requirement for Court of Appeal judges to serve in a station for two years.
Last year, the High Court judge ruled that investigators had a right to conduct secret searches at homes and offices of graft suspects without prior notification.

Lady Justice Mumbi Ngugi’s ruling came as a relief to Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) and Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI), who have been battling to save more than 1,000 cases from collapsing after the Court of Appeal outlawed secret search warrants.

“I bear in mind that the form of obtaining evidence has been challenged in many cases. There may be need to issue practice directions and new templates on search warrants given the changing times and the prescriptions in judicial precedents,” ruled Ngugi.

Her decision was in sharp contrast with the Court of Appeal’s finding, including allowing the use of force to obtain evidence in instances where investigators have sufficient reasons to believe an individual has committed a crime.

“In the absence of evidence of abuse of power or a gross violation of the rights of a person to be searched, a court would be slow to stop a search warrant. There is nothing wrong with search warrants if there is reasonable suspicion of commission of an offence,” ruled Ngugi.

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In July, appellate Judges Roselyne Nambuye, Patrick Kiage, and Sankale ole Kantai ruled that investigators must first notify a person of their intention to search him /her, and it is only if the person fails to comply that they should seek for a search warrant.

But Justice Ngugi said the Judges’ decision was based on provisions of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act (ACECA) and not the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), which allows investigators to obtain secret search warrants without notifying the person when gathering evidence.

“In my view, the Appellate decision was limited to provisions of ACECA and cannot extend to provisions of CPC. To hold otherwise would be to deal a death blow to investigations of any offence, not just economic crimes,” she said.

In June 2018, Justice Kantai disqualified himself from the Embu governorship case, saying one of the parties tried to compromise him. Most of the judges that were moved were mentioned in rows concerning the 2017 general election and in corruption cases.

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