The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has arrested Kangema’s Senior Principal Magistrate, Martin Kinyua Mutegi and a probation officer for soliciting a Sh170,000 bribe from a litigant in exchange for a favourable ruling in a criminal matter before his court.
According to the EACC’s Central Regional Director, Japheth Baithalu, Kinyua was arrested alongside a Principal Probation Officer, Julius Irungu Njogu, on Tuesday in a restaurant within Kangema, Murang’a County as they were receiving a Sh150,000 bribe from the complainant.
Baithalu said that the arrest followed a complaint from a Murang’a businessman who is the litigant in a case where he was charged with obtaining money by false pretence. The complainant was convicted on July 2 and he was scheduled to be sentenced by Kinyua on July 22 (today).
He said that preliminary investigations established that the probation officer approached the complainant and claimed to be acting on behalf of the magistrate. He then demanded Sh170,000 with the promise that the money would help the complainant secure a non-custodial sentence through a favourable probation recommendation.
“Julius Irungu told the complaint that the magistrate had sent him to convey that message to him. So the complainant came and gave us this information. We mounted an operation on Tuesday. True to the complainant’s word, the magistrate arrived at the scene- a hotel-where he was supposed to pick the money and they received the money. The EACC officers were on standby and they arrested them and got the money from them, “said the Regional Director.
He revealed that the two have been on EACC radar for receiving money and interfering with the due process of the law. He said that Commission’s covert operations indicate that there has been more cases interferences allegedly committed by the two as well as other similar cases against other court officials in the region. He said the commission is still going through their system to establish the magnitude of the vice.
“There have been more compromises and even more serious cases involving these two. So we are piecing together our findings and we may establish a prima facie case on those other instances where they have interfered with administration of justice,” he said.
The two spent the better part of Wednesday being grilled by EACC officers at the Commission’s offices in Nyeri. Baithalu said the two will be arraigned before the Nyeri law courts and charged with the offence of soliciting and receiving bribes.
While sounding a warning signal to court officials to desist from engaging in corruption, Biathalu said the commission is committed to eliminating bribery at all public service delivery points.
“I want to reiterate that justice cannot be for sale. Justice is priceless. The courts are our last frontier where we seek refuge so please dispense justice as it is supposed to be dispensed,” he said.
By Wangari Mwangi
