Retired Chief Justice David Maraga joined and rose through the ranks of the Judiciary as a result of “strong solicitation and constant lobbying”, Nairobi-based lawyer Ahmednassir Abdullahi has claimed.
In his response to a defamation suit filed by Justice (rtd) Maraga over a Sh220 million bribe allegedly given to a Supreme Court judge, the lawyer says the retired CJ has a history of soliciting favours.
Mr Abdullahi, a senior counsel, has neither named the judge who received the bribe during Maraga’s tenure as CJ nor the case at the centre of the bribery.
But he has revealed what he says are details of his past deals and engagements with the former CJ, going to the extent of question the retired judge’s lifestyle and source of wealth.
The lawyer says when he was first elected as chairman of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) in 2003, he together with other council members travelled to Nakuru.
At the time, Judiciary’s ‘radical surgery’ introduced by the then new government of President Mwai Kibaki to weed out corrupt judges and magistrates was at its peak.
Mr Maraga was one of the senior lawyers practising in Nakuru at the time and he welcomed Mr Abdullahi’s team to the town, according to Mr Abdullahi.
“Following his (Maraga) strong solicitation and constant lobbying, we included him in a list of 35 lawyers and was appointed judge of the High Court in 2004,” says Mr Abdullahi in the 10-page affidavit.
And when the Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board was scrutinising the suitability of judicial officers, the lawyer says Mr Maraga called in the middle of the night seeking to have his job saved.
Bribery allegations
“The plaintiff (Maraga) called me out of the blue in the middle of the night following his vetting by the vetting board of judges and magistrates crying loudly. I remember the plaintiff (Maraga) was literally shouting: ‘please help me my brother, my career is over, I am finished, please Nasir…’. The plaintiff then begged me to lobby Commissioner Abdullahi,” he says in the court papers.
At the time, the lawyer was a member of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), the Judiciary employer, representing the LSK.
Eight years later, the senior counsel claims, Justice Maraga sought his help to get elevated to a Court of Appeal judge in 2012.
“When Maraga applied for promotion to be appointed judge of appeal, I met him whilst I was in company of my wife. He pleaded with me to look into his application favourably,” says Mr Abdullahi.
“After Maraga was appointed, he made lunch for me and another commissioner and served them (sic) a meal of chicken, ugali and sukuma at his home in Karen.”
The city lawyer and the retired Chief Justice are entangled in a court dispute started by the latter when he sued over a social media post on alleged bribery of a Supreme Court judge.
The battle started after the lawyer posted a tweet alleging that a supreme judge had been bribed Sh220 million in exchange for a favourable ruling.
Through TripleOKLaw Advocates, LLP, the former CJ said the tweet published by the senior counsel on January 12, 2021, is libellous and scandalous.
“The said publication was both reckless and malicious in the extreme and was designed and intended to inflict maximum reputation damage on the plaintiff,” read court papers.
False claims
Judge (rtd) Maraga says the tweet meant that, as CJ, he condoned corruption within the judiciary and that he had concealed the name and identity of the said Supreme Court judge.
It is his view the lawyer meant that he shielded and protected corrupt judges in the Judiciary.
The former president of the JSC describes the lawyer’s claims as false.
In addition, he says the lawyer did not lodge any complaint with the relevant authorities or initiate proceedings for the removal of the Supreme Court judge as required under the Constitution and the Judicial Service Act.
While describing himself as an elder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Justice Maraga says the tweet was open to Mr Abdullahi’s 1.1 million followers and that it attracted 565 comments, 381 retweets and 2,500 likes from online users.
The church elder’s position requires a person of high moral character and unquestionable integrity, says Justice (rtd) Maraga, adding that in such a position he is in many times called upon to preach.
“Despite demand for an apology and an unequivocal public retraction, the defendant has declined and refused to pull down the Twitter post or to render an appropriate apology,” he says.
But the lawyer says the tweet is part of Kenya’s “well documented and profound national commitment to the policy and principles that the fight against corruption in the Judiciary, and especially at the Supreme Court must be uninhabited”.
Unnamed judge
In urging court to dismissing Justice Maraga’s case, the lawyer further states that the ex-CJ had a constitutional obligation to investigate the bribery allegations.
“The only reason why the plaintiff did not investigate the matter is because, in my considered view of, the plaintiff knew the judge who took the bribe,” he says adding that the tweet was innocent and harmless.
The lawyer also says contrary to Justice Maraga’s peers, he (Maraga) lives a lavish and expensive lifestyle “well beyond his financial means”.
He says it is questionable how the judge, as a public officer, afforded to educate his children at top local and foreign schools.
“When the plaintiff held a public office, his salary and remuneration was open to the public; the same however did not reflect his lifestyle. I am aware that the Plaintiff has schooled his children in colleges and universities both in Kenya and United Kingdom,” says the lawyer.
In the court papers Mr Abdullahi claims that the unnamed judge who received the bribe had even delivered an advance copy of the judgment of the court as a sign of good faith that he should be trusted to deliver on his bargain.
“Thus judgment proved later on to be a fake judgment. The judge delivered two sets of the Supreme Court confessing minutes on a case as evidence of good faith on his part. The judge did not deliver the ruling in favour of the party he took the Sh220 million from and instead ruled in favour of another party,” claims the advocate.
The case is at Milimani High Court Civil Division and is being handled by Justice Said Juma Chitembwe. It will be mentioned on December 8, 2021. BY DAILY NATION