A new twist in lawyer Paul Gicheru case has emerged after fresh details has emerged on how he bribed witnesses, leading to the collapse of Deputy President William Ruto’s trial.
In a document signed by International Criminal Court (ICC) Deputy Prosecutor James Stewart, the prosecution claimed the lawyer met witnesses in the Ruto case, including the late Meshak Yebei, who was killed mysteriously in 2015.
It also emerged that Yebei was also a member of a strategy group known as Common Plan, a network that schemed to bribe witnesses who had been lined up against Ruto.
In the document, Gicheru also admitted to having met Yebei who was among ICC prime witnesses in DP Ruto’s case.
“He admits that he knew and met Meshack Yebei – an alleged member of the Common Plan – at Gicheru’s office in Eldoret. He knew Ruto and Silas Simatwo – another alleged member of the charged Common Plan,” reads the document.
Similarly, Stewart claimed that the lawyer, who had an office in Eldoret, studied with Ruto at Kapsabet High School, indicating that they knew each other well.
The prosecution now claims that there is evidence to prove that Ruto spent millions of money to fund plans to corrupt witnesses in his case.
The prosecutor wants the witness, codenamed P-0743, to testify, as a matter of obligation upon him, by video-link at a location they have not disclosed.
Preliminary investigations by The Hague-based court also show that the witnesses were given kickbacks to withdraw and therefore Ruto‘s case collapsed.
Yebei’s mutilated body was found floating in a river in January 2015 after he disappeared on December 28, 2014, from Turbo town.