This archive report was first published on 9 November 2019.
On December 1, 2014, a Kenyan magistrate's court granted bail to Baktash Akasha and his brother Ibrahim, requiring them to pay Sh5 million and provide two sureties. The court cited their ill health as the reason for the bail. However, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) immediately moved to the High Court for revision of the orders.
A judge gave a limited stay of the bail orders pending the hearing of the case. Seven days later, on December 8, 2014, a second judge agreed with the magistrate that the two deserved to be released on bail. This judge ordered that the DPP ought to have filed an appeal within seven days, failure to which the two would be released.
Aggrieved, the DPP went to a third judge, who enhanced their bail terms to Sh30 million each. They were also required to provide two sureties of a similar amount and report to investigating officers three days a week.
US Prosecutor Geofrey Berman alleged that the Akasha brothers paid bribes to Kenyan law enforcement personnel, prosecutors, and at least three judges. He argued that the brothers' scheme was successful for years, allowing them to obtain bail and repeatedly adjourn court dates to weaken the US Government's case.
Although they had been given conditional release by a Kenyan court, the US judge heard that they further flouted the court's authority and abused the Kenyan justice system, which enabled them to traffic drugs while out on bail.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i accused the Judiciary of derailing the war on drug lords, stating that the Akashas were released on bail multiple times and hardly spent one night in police custody.
