nNairobi Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko could be headed for not-so-good times after the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) unmasked a syndicate of suspected connivance with judicial officers to block cases filed against him from getting to full hearing.
MORE BAGGAGE
Tactics used to delay the cases and, therefore, deny justice to the victims include altering, hiding and deconstruction of the prosecution files by some elements allegedly known to him in the Judiciary.
In what could come out as impunity on the judicial process, judgments in some of these cases have purportedly been delivered despite the cases not being heard at all, according to documents in our possession.
The latest events could spell more baggage to Sonko, already burdened with corruption charges, to contend with in the coming days.
The courts have barred the governor from accessing his office over an abuse of office case Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji filed against him.
His barring from accessing office is part of the conditions the court imposed on top of a Sh15 million cash bail he was granted pending the hearing and determination of the case.
Although the case currently before the court could make or break his political career, the latest developments could be a death knell to his political ambitions at a time when he has declared his interest in the presidency in the 2022 General Election.
This if it is discovered that he may have played a role in blocking justice from being served as decreed by the law and the Constitution.
In 2000 Sonko, using the name Mbuvi Gideon Kioko alias Mike Norwal Muoki, was charged in a Kibera magistrate’s court over forgery in a criminal case No. 8635 of 2000.
“On diverse dates between May 9 and June 2000, at Testillose (EA) Company in Ngara, Nairobi, Mr Sonko, jointly with others not before the court, knowingly and fraudulently uttered to Mr Praven Misra forged purchase orders,” the court papers read in part.
Sonko had claimed that the documents were genuine and that they were from the then Ministry of Home Affairs, National Heritage and Sports.
Information from the court file shows that Sonko used the forged purchase orders with serial numbers A034681, A034685, A034689 and A034694 to obtain goods from Mr Praven Misra valued at Sh18,157,129.
SENTENCE REDUCED
The goods included 36,530 pieces of Raymond blankets and 6,200 metres of Raymond fabric materials. It is not clear where he took the goods.
A November 25, 2010, application before High Court Judge Nicholas Ombija seeking bail was certified as urgent.
Sonko had filed the application under the guise that he had been remanded from the time he was charged in 2000, yet there is no record to show that he had been in legal custody.
Sonko wanted the bail granted pending the hearing in Kibera Chief Magistrate’s Court Criminal Case Nos. 8635 of 2000, 360 of 2008, 1043 of 2008 and Nairobi Chief Magistrate’s court criminal case No. 395 of 2008.
Interestingly, in almost all the cases, Sonko’s sentence is reduced to the period already “served in remand.”
For instance, in the High Court criminal application No. 80 of 2001 from the Chief Magistrate’s Court in Mombasa case No. 1727 of 1996 and 675 of 1997 were reduced to the period already served “unless otherwise lawfully held” according to a memo issued by Principal Deputy Registrar, High Court, Appellate side, Nairobi.
ESCAPING CUSTODY
On May 18, 1998, Sonko is reported to have notoriously escaped from Shimo La Tewa Prison at the Coast in unclear circumstances, although senior prisons officers and those from the Coast General Hospital, where he was being treated before the escape, may have been involved.
Sonko is said to have left two knuckles that had been used to handcuff him on the hospital bed.
Despite openly admitting the escape, he is yet to be charged in court with escaping from lawful custody.