Tunoi tribunal seeks witness mobile phone records before proceeding

The tribunal investigating bribery allegations against suspended Supreme Court judge Philip Tunoi has asked to be supplied with mobile phone communications, which allegedly happened between several people mentioned or questioned during the ongoing hearings.

Chairman Sharad Rao told lead counsel for the tribunal Paul Nyamodi that the remaining witnesses would not appear until the tribunal gets to know if and how the communications occurred between and among the parties allegedly involved in the bribery scheme.

On Thursday, the tribunal was set to cross examine Nairobi governor Evans Kidero and another witness Kiprop Chirchir but deferred that to next Tuesday awaiting to first hear from two employees from telcommunications firm Safaricom on Monday.

Mr Nyamodi promised that the two would appear on the said day. Dr Kidero is alleged to have bribed Mr Justice Tunoi with Sh200 million in order to rule in his favour in an election petition pitting the governor and now Kabete MP Ferdinand Waititu.

Mr Chirchir is said to have accompanied the governor to a fuel station on Waiyaki Way in Nairobi where the bribe was handed out.

Mr Rao said the Safaricom duo would help shed light on the mobile conversations and also help determine under whose names the mobile numbers in use are registered before the testimonies of Mr Kidero and Mr Kiprop are heard the following day.

“We have decided that before you (Mr Nyamodi) have the governor and Kiprop or for that matter another witness, we would now want to have evidence as to these different telephone calls which have been alleged to be made,” said Mr Rao.

He added that without the mobile phone conversations, the tribunal would remain “handicapped”.

Mr Rao also asked Mr Nyamodi to provide the tribunal with a list of “valuable” witnesses who are set to appear before the tribunal in the coming days so as to speed up the hearings.

He said the tribunal would want to see the list so as to determine whether they are of use to the tribunal or not.

Mr Justice Tunoi’s lawyer Mr Fred Ngatia agreed with the tribunal chairman saying, “let’s not have just people coming here to say I was there, I was not there. It’s totally unnecessary”.

He also asked to be supplied with the list of potential witness to appear next Monday.

The lawyer, however, expressed concern over the decision not to cross examine Dr Kidero on Thursday saying he (Mr Ngatia) should have been informed in good time as he had spent considerable time preparing for the same.

Mr Ngatia said he would wait for all the witnesses to be cross examined before making his submission to prove that the entire process is in violation of Article 168 of the Constitution.