This archive report was first published on 2 October 2019.
On October 2, 2019, a High Court judge delivered a significant ruling in the fight against corruption, allowing investigators to conduct secret searches at homes and offices of graft suspects without prior notification.
Justice Mumbi Ngugi's decision came as a relief to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), and the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI), who had been battling to save over 1,000 cases from collapsing after the Court of Appeal outlawed secret search warrants.
Her ruling was in sharp contrast to the Court of Appeal's finding, which allowed the use of force to obtain evidence in instances where investigators had sufficient reasons to believe an individual had 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,” Justice Ngugi ruled.
The decision was made in two cases involving ousted Kisumu County Speaker Onyango Oloo and Bobasi MP Innocent Momanyi Obiri, who were charged with conspiracy to steal public funds in the Sh4.1 billion Lake Basin Development Authority Mall scandal.
Justice Ngugi ruled that in the case of Momanyi, EACC had genuine apprehension after money was illegally deposited in his account from the contractor as the quantity surveyor for the LBDA project.
“There was reasonable suspicion of commission of an offence of bribery and procurement irregularities. This was on the he was a quantity surveyor who was a consultant for LBDA and suspected to be a beneficiary of the corruption,” Justice Ngugi ruled.
