Kahawa Law Courts is today expected to rule on whether 12 suspects linked to the mysterious disappearance of Ksh160 million belonging to the National Intelligence Services (NIS) Sacco will plead to 223 charges levelled against them by the public prosecutor.
The decision by the Senior Principal Magistrate Boaz Maura Obwewa is expected on Tuesday, September 26, 2023.
The suspects challenged the astounding 57-page chargesheet presented to the court by the office of the DPP containing over 200 counts against them.
The senior officials including Amos Kipchumba the Sacco’s internal auditor, loans manager Violet Wali, accountant Caren Langat, system analysts Hamisi Zaunga and Miriam Nthenya and Moses Ntoinya – a NIS officer, were arraigned in court but did not plead to the charges saying that the same was defective.
Others are Nicodemus Osiemo, Eric Rono from Sure-step Systems, and Tony Wabomba a former employee of the Sacco Society.
The 12 suspects through their lawyers led by Danstan Omari vehemently opposed the charge sheet as framed by the DPP saying it was defective.
Omari said the prosecution’s move to frame over 200 counts against the suspects is meant to embarrass and humiliate their clients.
“Before you is a chargesheet with cumulative 223 counts it’s unprecedented and history-making that’s why we are asking if a charge sheet can carry that large amount of charges,” Omari said.
Lawyer Omari argued that it was humanly impossible to answer to the charges and even the defence will have a hard time preparing for the case.
“This is the first time that NIS officers are taking pleas in this country and also the courts have pronounced themselves that a charge sheet can only have 12 counts,” Omari said.
He accused the prosecution of going on a fishing expedition by bringing over 200 counts so that if they missed a conviction in the others, they get even one.
However, the prosecution dismissed the arguments by the defence claiming the charge sheet filed against the suspects is proper.
The state prosecutor urged the court to dismiss the defence submission and compel the 12 to plead to the charges.
The employees of NIS Sacco, known as Njiwa Sacco, were arrested on Friday last week by DCI detectives following comprehensive joint investigations, conducted by detectives and officials from the spy agency.
According to the charge sheet filed in court, the 12 suspects are accused that on diverse dates between January 1, 2018, and March 31, 2023, within Nairobi County jointly with others not before the court, conspired to steal from Njwa Sacco Limited Ksh106,549,379 the property of Njwa Socco.
