KENYA: Judiciary will not censure Mutava for acquitting Pattni on Goldenberg
By PAUL OGEMBA.
The commission’s sub-committee headed by Supreme Court judge Smokin Wanjala ruled that there was insufficient evidence to warrant disciplinary proceedings against High Court judge Joseph Mutava.
Justice Mutava caused an uproar two weeks ago when he acquitted Mr Pattni of all charges related to the multi-billion-shilling Goldenberg scandal on the grounds that he would not get a fair trial because the case had dragged for two decades.
The orders also restrained police from arresting or prosecuting the businessman.
Since February last year at least five complaints by the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), Kenya Airports Authority (KAA), individual lawyers, a judge and a civil society group have been filed against the judge. All the complainants alleged the judge was assisting Mr Pattni to cheat justice.
Justice Mutava was also accused of leaking a judgment by Mr Justice Leonard Njagi. It was not immediately clear yesterday why the JSC had delayed releasing its decision.
LSK chairman Eric Mutua said he was shocked by the decision, but declined to comment further.
“We must first be supplied with the full decision of the committee to make a comment. As far as the LSK is concerned, a tribunal should be formed to investigate the conduct of Justice Mutava,” said Mr Mutua.
The three-member sub-committee of Justice Wanjala, Chief Registrar of the Judiciary Gladys Shollei and the Rev Samuel Kobia had recalled all files relating to Mr Pattni’s cases handled by Justice Mutava to allow it to conduct investigations into the petition lodged by the LSK, KAA and International Center for Policy and Conflict (ICPC).
Sources within the Judiciary told the Saturday Nation that the committee first retreated to Naivasha in December last year to discuss the allegations but did not return a verdict.
The team met again last week and resolved there were insufficient grounds to form a tribunal to investigate the conduct of the judge, who was appointed in 2011 from the Central Bank where he was a legal officer.
Efforts to get a comment from Mrs Shollei were unsuccessful. Her phone was unanswered.
The KAA petitioned the JSC to investigate the judge over a ruling in a case between it and World Duty Free, a company associated with Mr Pattni.
It alleged that he acted in a biased and unprofessional manner when he issued orders that effectively gave Mr Pattni control of duty free shops at all airports in the country.
The KAA also complained about a decision by Justice Mutava to cite the company’s top officials for disobeying court orders.
The judge had ruled that KAA managing director and company secretary were in contempt of court and were liable to six months imprisonment, but the authority disputed the ruling claiming the case was not listed for hearing on the date they were alleged to be in contempt.
However, a civil society group, Concerned Citizens of Kenya, opposed the move to investigate the conduct of the judge and filed an affidavit at the Court of Appeal in support of Justice Mutava and Mr Pattni.
The group claims that ICPC’s complaints against Justice Mutava were part of an extortionist scheme to intimidate the Judiciary and deny Mr Pattni justice.
Read More: Saturday Monitor: http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Judiciary-will-not-censure-Mutava-for-acquitting-Pattni/-/1056/1848822/-/g52w86z/-/index.html
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