Director of Public Prosecutions has opposed an application by Evans Kidero seeking to expunge bank statements from his graft case, claiming they were illegally obtained.
The former Nairobi governor told High Court judge James Wakiaga heard that the bank statements- mostly from the Co-operative bank city hall branch- were obtained through a court order, according to Business Daily.
The DPP, however, said Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), obtained the order that permitted it to get the documents from a Kibera court.
The DPP through assistant Joseph Riungu further told the court that Kidero was aware of the documents and cannot claim he was ambushed.
“There exists no basis for expunging the documents from the court records. The applicant has not made any case for issuance of the orders sought,” he submitted.
Kidero on the other side maintained that the bank statements were illegally obtained and he and his co-accused were issued with different bank statements before the trial began.
According to Kidero, he only learned of the document when a Co-operative Bank official testified during a trial.
During the trial court, Chief Magistrate Douglas Ogoti ruled that the prosecution should have obtained permission from Kidero before tabling the document.
But the magistrate declined to expunge the testimony of the bank official, from the record, prompting both the prosecution and the defense teams to file appeals before the High Court.
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“This is not a matter to be taken lightly because the fairness of the process and administration of justice to all the parties depends on the integrity of the parties and of the trial court,” Kidero said in his submissions to the court.
Kidero said since it was a criminal case where the liberties of the accused person are at stake, the bar is much higher than in civil disputes, therefore, the court must be more stringent in its enforcement of the law.
Kidero and his co-accused, former chief officers in his administration have been charged over the alleged loss of Sh203 million. They have denied a total of 35 counts.
