Director of Public Prosecution has opposed an application by National Youth Service suspects seeking to have a three-judge bench to hear their fraud cases.
Noordin Hajji says the petition by the 53 accused persons is incompetent and an abuse of the court process. He further submits that the court lacks jurisdiction to set up a bench to conduct trials in anti-corruption cases 8, 10, and 11 of 2018.
“The petition does not meet the threshold for empanelment of a bench to wit: the issues raised in the petition are in respect to constitutional interpretation,” DPP said in his written submissions.
A replying affidavit by Caroline Kimiri, from the ODPP, states that the petitioners had not adduced any evidence before the court to demonstrate how continued prosecution of the criminal proceedings amounted to abuse of the court process or infringed their fundamental rights.
“That the issues of framing of charges, consolidation, substitution and joinder of charges together with the modalities of trial were determined by (the) trial court or August 2018 when the court gave guidelines on case management to ensure a fair and expeditious disposal of the case.”
Former NYS boss Richard Ndubai, ex-principal secretary Lillian Mbogo and other petitioners claim there is irrefutable evidence of improper and intentional influence on testimony by prosecution witnesses through witness collusion and witness coaching.
They also allege proof of intentional and selective disclosure of evidence through incremental introduction of new material into evidence by the prosecution in a bid to irretrievably incriminate the petitioners in all three courts.
