Judge rules on fate of DP Rigathi Gachagua's Sh7.5 billion case

Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji has officially withdrawn the Sh7.5 billion fraud case against Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.

DPP Haji withdrew the charges on Thursday, November 10, after the courts gave him the go-ahead, after a lack of evidence to sustain the case.

According to the director of public prosecutions, some of the evidence his office relied on was forged by officers of the Directorate of Criminal Investigation.

Kenya's Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji Pulse Live Kenya

“On DP Gachagua’s charges, we were pushed by DCI himself through the media. We felt there was sufficient evidence to charge, but later we discovered the documents were forged,” he disclosed during an interview with KTN.

On October 17, Senior Principal Magistrate Victor Wakumile granted Haji three weeks to review evidence in the graft case against the deputy president.

DPP Haji's office charged Gachagua with conspiracy to defraud the County Government of Nyeri of Sh27.4 million, purportedly to supply a dialysis machine to Nyeri Provincial General Hospital.

The former Mathira Member of Parliament was also accused of obtaining Sh7.4 billion through transacting with county governments.

The withdrawal of cases against senior officers in the current administration raised questions about the circumstances under which the charges were dropped.

DPP Haji was put on the spot to explain after which he blew the lid on how the relationship between the DPP and DCI led to the collapse of the cases.

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua speaks during an interview with Citizen TV on Sunday, October 2, 2022 Pulse Live Kenya

He said that officers would sometimes forge documents or flatly refuse to avail more evidence to support the charges, resulting in weak cases.

“The main bone of contention between my office and DCI was on the decision to charge. We discovered that DCI was not serious in availing evidence. I could no longer have cases that did not meet what we felt was sufficient to go to court,” Haji said.

He said that the evidence gaps resulted in the creation of the Decision to Charge Guideline, which contains a series of tests and decisions that prosecutors make and consider when handling criminal cases