Thika magistrate on EACC radar over bribery allegations
The commission highlighted an instance where the Chief Magistrate allegedly received a bribe through her clerk, Patrick Njeri Muriithi
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission has launched investigations into allegations of Thika Law Court Chief Magistrate Stella Bonareri Atambo receiving bribes.
The Anti-Corruption Commission stated the probe was launched following claims that the magistrate was demanding and accepting bribes from individuals accused in Criminal cases before her.
“After numerous claims and complaints that Chief Magistrate Stella Atambo is demanding and receiving bribes from people accused of criminal matters before her, EACC confirms launch of probe over the same,” The corruption Watchdog said in a statement.
The commission highlighted an instance where the Chief Magistrate allegedly received a bribe through her clerk, Patrick Njeri Muriithi.
“It is alleged that on diverse dates, the Chief Magistrate received various amounts of money through Patrick Njeri Murlithi, a Clerk in her court, which is suspected to have been solicited from accused persons,” they said in their statement.
They indicated they had raided the residence of the magistrate and her clerk, where they recovered Sh2 million suspected to be proceeds of corruption.
“The Commission, upon obtaining search warrants, conducted searches at the residences of the Chief Magistrate and the Clerk to obtain relevant documents and information to support the investigations. A total of Kes2,070,000 in cash, suspected to be proceeds of corruption, was recovered inside a laptop bag at the residence of Hon. Atambo among various documents relevant to the investigations,” they disclosed.
The magistrate and her clerk later recorded a statement at the EACC headquarters.
The raid by the EACC comes days after former Law Society of Kenya President Nelson Havi moved to the Court of Appeal seeking the reversal of High Court orders halting the process begun by the Judiciary Service Commission on the petition filed to remove apex court judges.
Havi avers that the removal of Chief Justice Martha Koome together with the six Supreme Court judges, is constitutional and should not be stopped.
He states that the aggrieved parties can only challenge the outcome of the JSC proceedings.
“Justice Mugambi erred in failing to hear and determine my challenge on the jurisdiction of the High Court before taking any other further steps in the proceedings in respect to the claim before him,” Havi stated.
His appeal comes after the high court issued interim orders stopping the Judiciary Service Commission from proceeding with the petition to remove Martha Koome and the other six judges until the case before them is heard and determined.
Mugambi directed that the bench be expanded, a move that lawyers Nelson Havi and Ahmednasir Abdullahi openly disagreed with even as he extended the orders barring JSC from hearing the said petitions and directed that an application for the formation of a bench to hear the case be heard on the 28th of this month.
Havi, Ahmednassir and Dari Ltd, a company owned by former Cabinet Secretary Raphael Tuju, are seeking the removal of the seven judges of the Supreme Court r over alleged misconduct and abuse of office.
