Court extends orders barring arrest of judges Juma Chitembwe, Aggrey Muchelule
Justices Juma Chitembwe (left) and Aggrey Muchelule.
The High Court has extended temporary orders barring arrest and prosecution of justices Juma Chitembwe and Aggrey Muchelule over a Sh6.3 million bribe and abuse of office.
Justice James Makau said the orders issued on July 23, 2021 will remain in force up to February 21, 2022 when a case filed by the Kenya Judges and Magistrates Association (KJMA) will be mentioned for directions on hearing.
The judge also allowed the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) to join the case as an interested party.
In its court papers, KJMA says the imminent prosecution of the two judges poses threat to the independence of the Judiciary hence it should be quashed and a permanent injunction issued.
Through its Secretary-General Derrick Kuto, the Association says police officers who stormed the judges' chambers did not have search warrants.
Received bribes
The detectives alleged that they had information the judges had received bribes from some brokers with the intention of obtaining favourable judgments, and that the money was stored in their Chambers.
During the raid, police found $50,000 in the chamber of Justice Muchelule and $7, 000 was recovered from Justice Chitembwe.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) in papers filed in court admits the officers did not have a search warrant.
It claims it received intelligence on July 21 at 3pm that after a series of meetings between certain judges and the brokers a Sh7 million bribe had been agreed upon and it was to be delivered to the residence of a judge at 7pm.
The DCI further claims that $50,000 was seized from a woman who was in Justice Muchelule's Chamber 230 during the search, and $7,000 was seized from Justice Chitembwe who is alleged to have facilitated the meeting.
Justice Muchelule was on his way to deliver pending judgments, while Justice Chitembwe was attending to a law student when detectives stormed their offices that are just a wall apart and arrested them.
Strange woman
But Justice Chitembwe, in response, says the DCI officers used a strange woman to plant the money at Justice Muchelule’s chamber. He says the claims by the DCI are false.
Judge Chitembwe however admits that he was found with $7,000 in his pocket which he says was meant for payment of school fees of his son who is studying at Edith Cowan University, Perth Australia.
He says being found with dollars is not unusual as his family operates a foreign currency account under his wife’s name. The account has been in existence for over three years, explains the judge.
He denies any involvement in fraud and explains that at the time the police raided the Chambers and "unceremoniously and embarrassingly" roughed him up, he was waiting to find time to go to the bank to transfer the money directly to the university.
The judge adds that he gave out the dollars voluntarily and it is wrong and misleading for the DCI to claim that it was a recovered bribe.
Detectives searched both offices before taking them to the DCI headquarters for questioning.
Justice Muchelule is yet to file his response as he has been out of the country, KJMA lawyer Danstan Omari informed the court on Tuesday.
