Court lifts Kingi arrest warrant after he apologises for skipping hearing
Kilifi County Governor Amason Kingi.
What you need to know:
- Appearing before Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Eunice Kagure Nyutu, Mr Kingi explained the circumstances which caused him to skip a hearing in the case.
- Through his lawyer George Kithi, he apologised to the court, saying he learnt about the summons amid involvement in official engagements.
A court on Friday lifted the warrant of arrest for Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi over his failure to give evidence against four Mombasa-based traders charged with attempting to extort Sh30 million from him
Messrs George Ngugi, Abdul Aziz Alim, Moses Musee Maluki and Noah Akala Aduwo allegedly tried to obtain that amount of money from the county boss.
Appearing before Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Eunice Kagure Nyutu, Mr Kingi explained the circumstances which caused him to skip a hearing in the case.
Through his lawyer George Kithi, he apologised to the court, saying he learnt about the summons amid involvement in official engagements.
“The governor is a law-abiding citizen and would be the last person to frustrate the delivery of justice,” Mr Kithi said, adding he will cooperate and attend court when required.
The magistrate also lifted a warrant issued against the governor's personal assistant, Mr Ahmed Ibrahim, who explained that he was unwell so he could not attend court to testify against the four traders -
Many adjournments
Mr Kingi and Mr Ibrahim are the key prosecution witnesses and had been summoned to tender evidence in court on Thursday.
The prosecution noted that the case has been adjourned several times because of Mr Kingi’s failure to attend court despite assuring the investigating officer that he would.
When the case came up for hearing on Wednesday, a prosecuting counsel applied to have the governor and his aide arrested and produced in court saying they "deliberately chose not to attend court yet they were aware that they were expected to testify".
The four traders have denied posing as officers from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption commission (EACC) investigating graft in Kilifi County.
They allegedly introduced themselves to Mr Ibrahim as such and claimed they were investigating a corruption case against the governor.
The four, who allegedly committed the crime on June 20, 2018 at Gracia Hotel in Kilimani, Nairobi, were each released a cash bail of Sh600,000.
