Thursday, February 16, 2023 – Azimio One Kenya Alliance party leader, Raila Odinga, has attacked Director of Public Prosecutions, Noordin Haji, for going to bed with ‘masters of impunity’ in the country.
Speaking at Jubilee Party headquarters in Nairobi on Thursday, Raila said Haji’s conduct is unbecoming.
The ODM leader said Haji has become a huge threat to justice, the rule of law and accountability in the country.
Since the start of President William Ruto’s regime, several criminal cases against powerful individuals in the administration have collapsed, while other former officials in the corporate sector have been set free on account of the withdrawal of charges.
DPP Haji maintains that his initial decisions to charge were based on assurances from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
“We have explained the threshold decision where you agree principally and you trust your partner in the criminal justice system will keep their end of the bargain,” Haji told Citizen TV’s Sam Gituku.
Even though the office of public prosecution is by law guaranteed independent consideration of files and decisions to charge, DPP Haji says his office was misled by DCI officers, who are now the subject of investigations and possible prosecution.
“We have discovered several documents were not properly examined. They committed perjury and we will prosecute them for perjury. If some individuals are telling me I should not use the constitution to preserve and avoid a miscarriage of justice… I have made that decision objectively, I have not hidden it and magistrates have allowed me to withdraw,” said Haji.
Among the high-profile cases that Haji has dropped is the Sh 200 million corruption case of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, the Sh 2 billion tax evasion scandal of businesswoman Mary Wambui and the Sh 14.2 billion tax evasion scandal facing businessman Humphrey Kariuki.
The Kenyan DAILY POST.