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  • February 18, 2025
The Supreme Court orders a retrial of Sonko in the graft case

The Supreme Court orders a retrial of Sonko in the graft case

Supreme Court orders Sonko’s retrial in graft case / FILE PHOTO

Former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has suffered a major setback after the Supreme Court set aside his acquittal in the Sh24 million corruption case.

Justice Nixon Sifuna said the case would be reheard by a magistrate other than then trial magistrate Douglas Ogoti.

The new magistrate, he said, will start by making a new ruling based on the evidence already known about whether the suspects have a case to answer.

According to him, the ruling should be made within thirty days of today’s ruling.

19 witnesses had testified in court.

In December 2022, then judge Douglas Ogoti acquitted Sonko, Anthony Ombok and ROG Security Ltd in 2022 on the grounds that the charge sheet filed by the DPP was defective.

Sonko had been accused of embezzling money from the provincial government by awarding dubious contracts.

The money was allegedly transferred back to his accounts and deposited in different parts of the country on different dates.

Dissatisfied, the DPP appealed

The DPP said in his appeal that Ogoti erred by not analyzing the evidence of the prosecution’s 19 witnesses.

They also said that while passing sentence, the magistrate relied on an old charge sheet filed on January 27, 2020, and ignored the amended and substituted form filed on September 7, 2020.

Sonko, however, opposed the appeal asking the court to uphold Ogoti’s decision.

But Sifuna said on Wednesday that Magistrate Ogoti “made a grave error when he used the old charge sheet to reach a conclusion on the totality of the evidence.”

“It seems like using the wrong marking scheme to mark examination papers. On this point alone, the said statement fails,” he added.

He said once the DPP amended the charge sheet, the original charge sheet could no longer be referred to.

“That charge sheet got used up and dead as a dodo. It could not be relied upon,” Sifuna said.

In allowing the DPP’s appeal, Sifuna quashed Ogoti’s ruling which found that Sonko and his co-accused had no case to answer.

The judge at the same time refused to suspend his decision as requested by John Khaminwa, who was known for Sonko and the team.