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Two ex-Kenya Power bosses held

meso

Former Kenya Power Company Secretary Beatrice Meso in court on October 23. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NMG

Former Kenya Power Company #ticker:KPLC Secretary Beatrice Meso and former head of supply chain John Ombui were taken to court on Tuesday over the disappearance of crucial documents that were to be used in the prosecution of senior managers in a graft case.

But Ms Meso, Mr Ombui and Ruth Oyile were not required to plead to the charges after the police asked the court for more time to investigate the three.

The prosecution told the court that the three were arrested on Monday, October 22 and that they needed at least seven days to conduct investigations.

Senior principal magistrate Kennedy Cheruiyot, however, rejected the application to detain the three as the police complete investigations.

According to the magistrate, there was nothing compelling to continue holding the three suspects and in his view, the police needed the former KPLC employees to accompany them to their former offices to retrieve some documents.

The magistrate said the likelihood of the three interfering with witnesses cannot arise because they had been charged in court over the procurement of faulty transformers and one of the conditions placed against them for granting of bail was not to visit their offices or contacting any of the prosecution’s witnesses.

“I am of the considered view that there are no compelling reasons to deny the suspects bond,” he said ruling that they deposit cash bail of Sh300,000 each to secure their release.

The court also warned that their bail would be cancelled if they are found to have interefered with the investigations.

Mr Cheruiyot ordered the suspects to report to the investigating officer today in order to visit KPLC offices in Nairobi. They will also accompany the investigating officer to the same offices on Monday and Wednesday next week.

The magistrate set the case for mention on November 1.

According to the prosecution, the three suspects might have caused the disappearance of crucial papers including tender documents, which were used in the procurement of the transformers that turned out to be faulty.

The three are to be charged with conspiracy to defeat justice but the prosecution said they were yet to conclude investigations.

Through lawyers Migos Ogamba and Roger Sagana, they were not opposed to deferment of the plea but were against detaining them.

On Monday, the case against 15 senior managers including former managing director Ben Chumo and Ken Tarus failed to start after two original documents went missing.