The High court today declined to terminate a graft case against former Devolution and Planning PS Peter Mangiti charged over the payment of Sh47.6 million to one of the companies allegedly paid part of the Sh 791 million stolen from NYS.
Justice Hedwig Ong’udi of Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes while dismissing the application said that it is only the trial court upon hearing the witnesses that will determine whether there was any conspiracy the former PS was involved or not.
“It is the trial court which is best equipped to deal with quality and sufficiency of the evidence gathered to support the charge. It would be a subversion of the law regulating criminal trials if the Judicial Review Court was to usurp the function of the trial court,” ruled the Judge.
Justice Ong’udi also noted that the prosecution is mandate to prove the case against the accused person and the trial court to evaluate the evidence and determine if he committed any offence or not.
Mangiti had move to court seeking orders to have the graft case terminated on grounds that no conspiracy had been established or trace aganist in terms of personality before the EACC and DPP recommend his prosecution.
In his application the former PS had informed the court that the decision by the prosecution to charge him was illegal and irrational since he was not directly involved in the tendering process.
