Director of Public Prosecution Noordin Haji has linked the former Director of Criminal Investigation George Kinoti to the collapse of corruption charges against Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
In a sit-down interview with KTN News, Haji said Kinoti pushed for the prosecution of Gachagua, who was then the Mathira MP, despite insufficient evidence linking him directly to the charges.
Haji argued that his office has moved to review the KSh 7.4 billion graft case against the deputy president after discovering that the DCI’s affidavits linking Gachagua to the case were forged.
“On DP Gachagua’s charges, the decision was made on the threshold. We were pushed by DCI himself through the media. We felt there was sufficient evidence to charge, but later we discovered the documents were forged,” Haji said on Sunday, October 30.
The DPP accused Kinoti’s reign of being behind the forgery of evidence, especially on matters of corruption, a move Haji said has forced his office to review all corruption files that emanated from the DCI.
“It’s a pattern, it was a pattern that a lot of evidence, especially when I came to corruption cases that came from the DCI, documents were flying from all over
“And right now, we can’t depend, and we will review all cases brought from DCI in relation to corruption cases,” he said.
This comes days after a senior detective presiding over the probe into the case revealed that then Kinoti pushed for the charges against Gachagua.
In an affidavit he swore on October 13, Kuriah Obadiah said the top brass of the investigative body did not allow detectives to do proper investigations to ascertain Rigathi’s role in the dissipation of the said monies at the National Irrigation Board.
He said Kinoti was on their case, asking them to promptly carry out investigations, including recording of statements, searches, filing of affidavits in court for orders to access the accused persons’ bank accounts among other activities.
“While investigations were still in progress, the director of DCI, Mr George Kinoti CBS, directed us to make recommendations that will enable the accused persons to face charges
“Based on immense pressure from my director, Mr Kinoti, my team made the recommendations. The accused persons were charged, and investigations could not continue as contemplated for various reasons,” Obadiah said.
