DPP Keriako Tobiko wants evidence collected using phone tapping and covert CCTV footage used to try corruption and economic crimes.
Mr Tobiko has asked Parliament, in a report tabled in the House, to legalise the use of modern technology in Kenyan courts, including receiving evidence through video conferencing, high-tech surveillance techniques, and wiretaps.
The DPP says the use of outdated technology has posed a challenge in the successful prosecution of corruption and economic crimes cases.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Keriako Tobiko wants evidence collected using phone tapping and covert CCTV footage used to try corruption and economic crimes in proposals that could raise debate on suspects’ right to privacy.
The DPP has asked Parliament, in a report tabled in the House, to legalise the use of modern technology in Kenyan courts, including receiving evidence through video conferencing, high-tech surveillance techniques, and wiretaps.
“The ODPP (Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions) is employing ways to embrace new technologies, including wiretaps, covert surveillance, control delivery and video conferencing by witnesses where applicable,” Mr Tobiko says in the annual anti-corruption report tabled in the National Assembly by Leader of Majority Aden Duale.
The Bill of Rights, in the Constitution, outlaws invasion of privacy unless where law enforcers are granted warrants by the court.
If the proposals are adopted, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and other agencies involved in investigating and prosecuting graft will use information acquired through snooping to secure convictions of suspects in courts.
The ODPP, the EACC, the National Intelligence Service (NIS), the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) are members of the multi-agency task team (MATT) which seeks to prosecute sophisticated crime.
The DPP says the use of outdated technology has posed a challenge in the successful prosecution of corruption and economic crimes cases.
Over-reliance on old technology, he says, has led to inadmissibility or loss of crucial evidence.
The DPP says the legal and policy framework for the prosecution of corruption and economic crimes needs to evolve with the times.
“In view of the changing dynamics, counsel (prosecutors) need to continue being sensitised on the same, to keep up with the developments in the legal framework and emerging jurisprudence in the field,” says Mr Tobiko in the report.
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