Post by Daktari wa makazi on Mar 21, 2015 12:43:45 GMT 3
The legal tussle between Chris Murungaru and John Githongo is now on going for over 10 years. Here I attempt to give a digest on the case, reconstructed from the press coverage.
The case has been active before High Court Judge David Onyancha. Murungaru, the plaintiff is represented by two lawyers - Kioko Kilukumi and the other guy was an ICC lawyer who is now making money in Kenyan legal circles, while the respondent, Githongo is represented by Andrew Wandabwa.
Murungary sued Githongo for defamation. The allegation is that Githongo prepared a dossier in which he associated the name of Murungaru to the Anglo-leasing scandal. In reply Githongo while agreeing to the fact that a dossier he authored as the PS in charge of ethics for the attention of Kibaki mentioned Murangaru, it was an indicative analysis of the corruption scene at the time. Murungaru resigned from the cabinet in 2006 following accusation of involvement in corruption.
Murungaru said the dossier prepared by Githongo was "a pack of conjecture, falsehoods, rumours, gossip, inconclusive inferences, suspicion and hearsay". He has to prove the dossier to be false (that he was not asked to give his side of the story) with sole main to blemish his character. Githongo on the hand must argue that the dossier was prepared for the purpose of public good (that is was public interest to publish what he did and that he discerned his source to be true).
Murungaru’s case is premised on the fact that he alleges that the Architects of the Anglo-leasing projects are known, and if Githongo was honest, he would have named names. Those who signed contracts, received money for the ghost security projects and returned cash to the government have identities but still remain hidden.
However, he asserted there was determination to nail certain individuals and that was why the issue remained unravelled to date. He said that charges to consolidated funds were paid to known addresses, and that banks had signatories as well as the government, which was represented by a permanent secretary.
In his view, the claims that the culprits were unknown were strange as any money can be traced from its destination. He noted officers at the Treasury then, provided unsatisfactory information about individuals who were not the actual culprits and were sacked, charged and fined heavily in court.
Murungaru in cross-examination said,
Q: John set out various particular steps regarding the narrative and came to a conclusion of various corruption in the dossier forwarded to the president?
A: The dossier is a summary of information that he felt amounted to evidence of corruption by many individuals myself included.
Q: Can you show anything to show John was not acting outside his mandate?
A: According to his letter of appointment he was an advisor of the president on the development, implementation, and monitoring of holistic policies and strategies meant to fight corruption but the content in the dossier was obtained through an investigative process, he is not an investigator and was not allowed to carry out any investigation.
In this type of cases, he who alleges must prove. Githongo presented a secret tape that allegedly expose an attempt by Murungaru to interfere with investigations in the Anglo Leasing scandal and allegedly depicts Murungaru as corrupt and therefore could have played a role in the scandal hence making his allegation factual.
Githongo's affidavit said he recorded conversations with Murungaru, former minister Kiraitu Murungi and PS Dave Mwangi as they "pressurised” him to drop his investigation. He says he cited Murungaru in his dossier because he was the minister responsible for security. Githongo said he did not leak the dossier to the media, but only sent two copies to President Kibaki and the defunct Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission.
When Murungaru was asked to verify the secret tapes Githongo lodges as evidence, he refused to comment, questioning their authenticity. His lawyer, Kilukumi, alleged that the translation of the tapes (which were in Kikuyu) was done by someone not faithful to Murungaru. After a lengthy tussle and production of a transcript from an independent translator, the secret tapes were nevertheless admitted as evidence for the respondent. According to press report, the scripts were not admitted on admissibility.
In his evidence, Murungaru argued that Githongo in his tenure as a PS received intelligence reports from various agencies leaked them to the media to tarnish his name. On the specific issue of Anglo leasing, he said Githongo investigated the scandal and passed on the information to the newspaper without input from other investigations on Anglo Leasing and agencies.
On cross-examination, Murungaru said he had filed six defamation cases relating to Anglo Leasing. But admitted that Githongo is not the source of information in all the cases.
Murungaru said he know that many of the accusation against Kibaki were part of a wider scheme for the downfall of the government. “It was in the public domain that there was an intention on foreign forces using local players to cause disaffection against the government with a view of causing regime changes,” said Murungaru.
He alleged the Anglo Leasing scandal negatively affected the referendum campaign for a proposed constitution in 2005 affected Banana side, resulting the lose.
He said his denial of a visa to travel to the US and UK was also part of the scheme. He claimed the UK and US released information on why he had been denied a Visa only after had challenged the decision.
To corroborate his evidence, Murungaru, brought Gladys Wambugu, his chief campaigner to testinfy. She said Nyeri refused to vote for Murungaru as Kieni MP because he was a ‘thief’. She said her professional relationship and feelings towards Murungaru changed after she learned he was implicated in the Anglo Leasing scandal. She said after learning of the corruption allegations in the media and the Githongo dossier, she stopped being his chief campaigner and campaigned for his rival, Warugongo Nemesius.
Bildad Wang’ombe, a priest who testified for Murungaru said the Anglo Leasing scandal politically jeopardised and damaged Murungaru’s political career.
Murungaru denied that his then Justice counterpart Kiraitu Murungi shielded him from prosecution on corruption charges. He said the Justice minister in the Narc government had no capacity to protect him or anyone else from corruption allegations. Mr Murungi was a member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Anti-Corruption in which Githongo was the secretary. He said he did not need any protection as he never played any role in the Anglo Leasing scandal.
Murungaru added that he had won a suit against the defunct Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, which had questioned him on corruption allegations.
In twist turn of events – High Court Judge David Onyancha announced his withdrawal from the defamation suit between Murungaru and Githongo.
Onyancha said there was an attempt by some people he did not name to interfere with his work in the case, and he had decided to withdraw to protect his reputation.
"An attempt to interfere with my judicial discretion and independence has been made in this case. After giving the issue sufficient consideration, I have decided to cease from presiding in further proceedings of the suit," Onyancha said.
He said he had discussed the issue with the head of civil division, Justice Msagha Mbogholi who said he will not compel Onyancha to explain why he had withdrawn from the suit.
Raila and former Nation editor Joseph Odindo were set to take the witness stand in defence of Githongo, but the case has been postponed. Raila was to tell the court today that Murungaru was publicly linked to the Anglo Leasing scandal. He was to say Murungaru's name was frequently mentioned in the Cabinet sub-committee investigating corruption as well as during the 2005 referendum campaigns. Raila says he sat with Murungaru, Anyang Nyong'o, Kiraitu Murungi, David Mwiraria and Musikari Kombo in the cabinet sub-committee on anti-corruption. Githongo was the committee's secretary. He said Murungaru subsequently stopped attending the meetings.
Equally, former Nation editor Joseph Odindo was due to tell the court that Murangaru's name was frequently mentioned in the media in relation to Anglo Leasing. Odindo's affidavit says Ntonyiri MP Maoka Maore first brought Anglo Leasing to the attention of Parliament on April 2, 2004. The Nation newspaper then commenced its own investigations and published several articles between May 2004 and October 2005. They were about to became public when the dossier from Githongo became public.
The next twist to follow……
The case has been active before High Court Judge David Onyancha. Murungaru, the plaintiff is represented by two lawyers - Kioko Kilukumi and the other guy was an ICC lawyer who is now making money in Kenyan legal circles, while the respondent, Githongo is represented by Andrew Wandabwa.
Murungary sued Githongo for defamation. The allegation is that Githongo prepared a dossier in which he associated the name of Murungaru to the Anglo-leasing scandal. In reply Githongo while agreeing to the fact that a dossier he authored as the PS in charge of ethics for the attention of Kibaki mentioned Murangaru, it was an indicative analysis of the corruption scene at the time. Murungaru resigned from the cabinet in 2006 following accusation of involvement in corruption.
Murungaru said the dossier prepared by Githongo was "a pack of conjecture, falsehoods, rumours, gossip, inconclusive inferences, suspicion and hearsay". He has to prove the dossier to be false (that he was not asked to give his side of the story) with sole main to blemish his character. Githongo on the hand must argue that the dossier was prepared for the purpose of public good (that is was public interest to publish what he did and that he discerned his source to be true).
Murungaru’s case is premised on the fact that he alleges that the Architects of the Anglo-leasing projects are known, and if Githongo was honest, he would have named names. Those who signed contracts, received money for the ghost security projects and returned cash to the government have identities but still remain hidden.
However, he asserted there was determination to nail certain individuals and that was why the issue remained unravelled to date. He said that charges to consolidated funds were paid to known addresses, and that banks had signatories as well as the government, which was represented by a permanent secretary.
In his view, the claims that the culprits were unknown were strange as any money can be traced from its destination. He noted officers at the Treasury then, provided unsatisfactory information about individuals who were not the actual culprits and were sacked, charged and fined heavily in court.
Murungaru in cross-examination said,
Q: John set out various particular steps regarding the narrative and came to a conclusion of various corruption in the dossier forwarded to the president?
A: The dossier is a summary of information that he felt amounted to evidence of corruption by many individuals myself included.
Q: Can you show anything to show John was not acting outside his mandate?
A: According to his letter of appointment he was an advisor of the president on the development, implementation, and monitoring of holistic policies and strategies meant to fight corruption but the content in the dossier was obtained through an investigative process, he is not an investigator and was not allowed to carry out any investigation.
In this type of cases, he who alleges must prove. Githongo presented a secret tape that allegedly expose an attempt by Murungaru to interfere with investigations in the Anglo Leasing scandal and allegedly depicts Murungaru as corrupt and therefore could have played a role in the scandal hence making his allegation factual.
Githongo's affidavit said he recorded conversations with Murungaru, former minister Kiraitu Murungi and PS Dave Mwangi as they "pressurised” him to drop his investigation. He says he cited Murungaru in his dossier because he was the minister responsible for security. Githongo said he did not leak the dossier to the media, but only sent two copies to President Kibaki and the defunct Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission.
When Murungaru was asked to verify the secret tapes Githongo lodges as evidence, he refused to comment, questioning their authenticity. His lawyer, Kilukumi, alleged that the translation of the tapes (which were in Kikuyu) was done by someone not faithful to Murungaru. After a lengthy tussle and production of a transcript from an independent translator, the secret tapes were nevertheless admitted as evidence for the respondent. According to press report, the scripts were not admitted on admissibility.
In his evidence, Murungaru argued that Githongo in his tenure as a PS received intelligence reports from various agencies leaked them to the media to tarnish his name. On the specific issue of Anglo leasing, he said Githongo investigated the scandal and passed on the information to the newspaper without input from other investigations on Anglo Leasing and agencies.
On cross-examination, Murungaru said he had filed six defamation cases relating to Anglo Leasing. But admitted that Githongo is not the source of information in all the cases.
Murungaru said he know that many of the accusation against Kibaki were part of a wider scheme for the downfall of the government. “It was in the public domain that there was an intention on foreign forces using local players to cause disaffection against the government with a view of causing regime changes,” said Murungaru.
He alleged the Anglo Leasing scandal negatively affected the referendum campaign for a proposed constitution in 2005 affected Banana side, resulting the lose.
He said his denial of a visa to travel to the US and UK was also part of the scheme. He claimed the UK and US released information on why he had been denied a Visa only after had challenged the decision.
To corroborate his evidence, Murungaru, brought Gladys Wambugu, his chief campaigner to testinfy. She said Nyeri refused to vote for Murungaru as Kieni MP because he was a ‘thief’. She said her professional relationship and feelings towards Murungaru changed after she learned he was implicated in the Anglo Leasing scandal. She said after learning of the corruption allegations in the media and the Githongo dossier, she stopped being his chief campaigner and campaigned for his rival, Warugongo Nemesius.
Bildad Wang’ombe, a priest who testified for Murungaru said the Anglo Leasing scandal politically jeopardised and damaged Murungaru’s political career.
Murungaru denied that his then Justice counterpart Kiraitu Murungi shielded him from prosecution on corruption charges. He said the Justice minister in the Narc government had no capacity to protect him or anyone else from corruption allegations. Mr Murungi was a member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Anti-Corruption in which Githongo was the secretary. He said he did not need any protection as he never played any role in the Anglo Leasing scandal.
Murungaru added that he had won a suit against the defunct Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, which had questioned him on corruption allegations.
In twist turn of events – High Court Judge David Onyancha announced his withdrawal from the defamation suit between Murungaru and Githongo.
Onyancha said there was an attempt by some people he did not name to interfere with his work in the case, and he had decided to withdraw to protect his reputation.
"An attempt to interfere with my judicial discretion and independence has been made in this case. After giving the issue sufficient consideration, I have decided to cease from presiding in further proceedings of the suit," Onyancha said.
He said he had discussed the issue with the head of civil division, Justice Msagha Mbogholi who said he will not compel Onyancha to explain why he had withdrawn from the suit.
Raila and former Nation editor Joseph Odindo were set to take the witness stand in defence of Githongo, but the case has been postponed. Raila was to tell the court today that Murungaru was publicly linked to the Anglo Leasing scandal. He was to say Murungaru's name was frequently mentioned in the Cabinet sub-committee investigating corruption as well as during the 2005 referendum campaigns. Raila says he sat with Murungaru, Anyang Nyong'o, Kiraitu Murungi, David Mwiraria and Musikari Kombo in the cabinet sub-committee on anti-corruption. Githongo was the committee's secretary. He said Murungaru subsequently stopped attending the meetings.
Equally, former Nation editor Joseph Odindo was due to tell the court that Murangaru's name was frequently mentioned in the media in relation to Anglo Leasing. Odindo's affidavit says Ntonyiri MP Maoka Maore first brought Anglo Leasing to the attention of Parliament on April 2, 2004. The Nation newspaper then commenced its own investigations and published several articles between May 2004 and October 2005. They were about to became public when the dossier from Githongo became public.
The next twist to follow……