We, Ong’anya Ombo Advocates LLP, successfully represented the 10th Accused person (our Client) and had him acquitted on the basis of no case to answer in the matter of Milimani Anti-Corruption Case No. 3 of 2019: Republic v Moses Kasaine Lenolkulal & 10 Others via Ruling delivered on July 13, 2023.
The 10th Accused and other accused persons were charged with various corruption offences under:
- The Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act,
- Article 75(1) & 179(4) of the Constitution of Kenya,
- Section 16 of the Leadership and Integrity Act; and
- Section 33 of the Public Procurement and Disposal Act 2005 (PPDA) (now repealed).
According to the prosecution, our Client, who was the Head of Procurement at Samburu County Government, had conspired to commit an offence of corruption leading to unlawful payment of KES. 84,695,996.55 to Oryx Service Station belonging to the 1st Accused (Moses Kasainc Lenolkulal) for the supply of fuel to the County Government of Samburu.
Firstly, we successfully submitted that the offence of conspiracy against the 10th Accused was never substantiated, and he was not in the employment of Samburu County Government when the alleged conspiracy commenced and was unfairly dragged into the case.
Secondly, making payments cannot be termed as an abuse of office, and no evidence showed that our Client was involved in an unlawful payment leading to a conflict of interest.
The Honorable Court stated that our Client has no case to answer and the charge against him is incurably defective, for the Prosecutor has failed to establish a prima facie case against him, and the legal onus was on the prosecution to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. The Prosecution failed to prove Conspiracy that our Client with the other accused persons had a meeting of the minds to effect an unlawful payment.
