Itumbi revives push for Matiang'i's prosecution over Sh1.5bn Ruaraka land
Mr Dennis Itumbi. Inset is former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i.
Digital communication strategist and President William Ruto's ally Dennis Itumbi has revived his bid for prosecution of former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i over the suspected corruption scandal involving Sh1.5 billion Ruaraka public land.
According to letters received by the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) yesterday, Mr Itumbi is pressing for the prosecution of Dr Matiang’i and 25 other unnamed individuals over irregular payments made by government as compensation to compulsorily acquire the 13.7 acre land.
He wants DPP Noordin Haji to commence the prosecution of Dr Matiang’i within seven days in respect to the alleged illegal payments, failure to which he will exercise his “right to privately prosecute” the former CS.
This is not the first time that Mr Itumbi is attempting to have the ex-CS prosecuted: a previous attempt was thwarted in 2020 after Chief Magistrate Douglas Ogoti ruled that his plea did not meet the required legal threshold for starting a private case against Dr Matiang’i.
But in the renewed push received by the DPP and EACC on Thursday, Mr Itumbi says he is aggrieved that the DPP initially returned the investigations file to the anti-graft watchdog three times while asking the Commission to tighten its case against the suspects. He noted that there is no information of the status and progress of the matter.
He is aggrieved that the DPP initially returned the investigations file to EACC three times asking the Commission to tighten its case against the suspects but there is no information of the status and progress of the matter.
To EACC, Mr Itumbi is seeking to be informed on the progress the agency has made in its investigations on the former CS and the unnamed individuals implicated in the scandal. Should EACC fail to provide information on the progress it has made, he says he will pursue legal remedies available to him.
Did not explain how he got documents
While throwing out the case more than two years ago, chief magistrate Ogoti said Mr Itumbi failed to explain how he accessed information or documents in his affidavits that he intended to use against the then powerful Cabinet Secretary. He thus found the documents inadmissible.
The alleged corruption occurred in 2016 when the Ministry of Education acquired a 13.77-acre parcel of land in Ruaraka for two public schools - Ruaraka High School and Drive Inn Primary School.
At the time of the land's acquisition, Dr Matiang’i was the Cabinet Secretary for Education.
In his bid to prosecute Dr Matiang'i privately, Mr Itumbi accused the former CS of willful failure to comply with the law on management of public funds during the compulsory acquisition of the Ruaraka land on which two schools sit.
In his latest bid, he has questioned the inaction of both the ODPP and EACC on the alleged corruption scam.
He is banking on a finding by the High Court in 2019 that the parcel is public land and “ought not to have been compulsorily acquired”.
Former Auditor-General Edward Ouko had previously faulted the Ministry of Education for irregularly spending Sh1.5 billion taxpayers' money for compulsory acquisition of the land from city businessman Francis Mburu.
“Even from your evidence presented in court, you (DPP) knew the truth, public money had been lost. In fact, you told the court that the National land Commission, sought to cleanse its questionable actions in paying Sh1.5 billion to Afrison Export Import Ltd and Hueland Limited as compensation for compulsorily acquiring their land for government use,” says Mr Itumbi's lawyer Wanjiru Kinuthia in the letter to the DPP.
The lawyer adds that EACC forwarded the investigating file to the DPP containing documents and listing the alleged culprits to be charged in court.
“After reviewing the documents, the DPP returned the file three times recommending that EACC should include officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Land Fraud Department, in order to have a water tight evidence against the culprits who were to be charged,” she states.
