LSK says Kinoti arm-twisting Haji in Cohen murder trial » Capital News

NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 15 – The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) has raised an alarm over what it has termed as an attempt by the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to undermine and manipulate the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

LSK President Nelson Havi on Friday termed DCI George Kinoti’s insistence for DPP Noordin Haji to have Justice Sankale Ole Kantai charged with the 2019 murder of Dutch businessman Tob Cohen, as an attempt to usurp powers exclusively vested in the public prosecutor’s office.

“The tussle between the heads of the two offices over the power of initiation of criminal charges has spiraled out of control. The DCI is determined to arrest the judge and arraign him in court,” the LSK President asserted.

Havi’s statement emerged a day after Cohen’s sister Gabriel Hannan Van Straten accused Haji of being incompetent in a petition filed before the Public Service Commission (PSC).

He linked Kinoti to the latest maneuver at the PSC describing documents filed in the petition as “indicative of a brazen, unconstitutional and unlawful attempt by the DCI to stray, foray into the constitutional mandate of the DPP and in the process, and imperil the functions of the DPP.”

In the petitioned filed at the PSC, Straten accused Haji of mishandling Cohen’s murder case claiming the public prosecutor – “who had never set foot in court” – had similarly bungled other high-profile corruption cases

“The DPP Public Haji lacks all requisite experience as provided for under Article 157 (3) Constitution of Kenya, 2010,” the petition read.

LSK President Nelson Havi/FILE

The DPP, while declining to charge Justice Kantai, told the court evidence produced against the judge was purely circumstantial.

“It was evident that no inference of guilt could be drawn against the petitioner herein as the circumstantial evidence did not satisfy the requisite requirement and consequently, the same could not form the basis of preferring criminal charges against the petitioner,” Senior Public Prosecutor Victor Mule said.

In Haji’s defence, Havi insisted that the DPP, under Article 157 (6) of the Constitution holds State powers to prosecute and that the DCI could not exercise such powers.

He further quoted Article 157 (4) saying the DCI is below the DPP who has powers to direct the Inspector General of the National Police Service (NPS) to investigate criminal conduct.

Havi added that Kinoti was misguided by concluding Justice Kantai’s 1999 appointment as a director in a firm owned by Cohen, and his removal in 2002, as evidence enough to sustain a murder charge against the charge on the basis of motive.

The LSK also took issue with Kinoti’s unwillingness to conform to 2019 Guidelines on Decision to Charge unveiled in July 2020 following multi-stakeholder engagements with players in the criminal justice system including the NPS.

The Cohen murder trial commenced in 2019 after the discovery of his body in an underground tank at his home in Kitisuru, Spring Valley, Nairobi, weeks after he went missing.

Cohen’s wife widow Sarah Wairimu was charged with the murder and later freed on bail pending trial.