DPP throws out Nyaga case against Tatu City partners

The Director of Public Prosecutions has rejected attempts by former Central Bank of Kenya governor Nahashon Nyaga to have two of his rivals in Tatu City investment charged with fraud.

Through senior state counsel Edwin Okelo, the DPP told the court that Mr Nyaga’s application seeking an order for disclosure and subsequent prosecution of the two foreign investors was an attempt “to exert undue pressure on him to act in a particular way.”

Mr Nyaga had also asked the court that senior counsel Ahmednassir Abdullahi, who represents the foreigners, disqualifies himself from the proceedings, a request dismissed by the latter as a ploy “to delay the case and intimidate me.”

Conflicting case

The case revolves around a conflicting case filed by the Directorate of Criminal Investigation which had recommended the prosecution of Mr Stephen Jennings and Mr Robert Reid instead of Mr Nyaga, his lawyers Nelson Havi and Michael Osundwa over fraudulent transfer of shares.

The court heard that the disclosure sought by Mr Nyaga was “premature” and “would be highly prejudicial and likely to undermine the integrity of ongoing investigations.”

“The applicant herein as well as his advocate and their co-petitioners are criminal suspects who have been recommended to be charged in inquiry file number 40 of 2015,” Mr Okelo submitted. He said that two inquiry files were before the DPP in respect to the rival groups in the Tatu city business empire.