A High Court judge directed former minister Chris Murungaru and former PS John Githongo to listen to secret tapes exposing an alleged attempt to interfere with investigations into the Anglo leasing scandal. Justice David Onyancha directed that the two should listen to the contents of the secret audio tape and a transcript be made and be presented in court, after they had agreed to do so in a case in which the former Internal Security minister has sued Githongo for defaming him by through allegations in the Anglo leasing scandal dossier. Justice Onyancha also ordered the appointment of a Kikuyu and English translator to interpret portions of the conversations between the subjects on the tapes. “The parties and their advocates will meet at Lawyer Kioko Kilukumi’s chambers on March 12, 2014 for the purpose of listening to the defendant’s audio tapes and agree on the transcripts to be placed before court, a competent English and Kiswahili translator should be present at the specified date and time for purposes of translating portions of the conversation that may require translation,” said the judge. The alleged audio tapes are part of the evidential material before court by the former Ethics and Governance PS. Last year, Murungaru had declined to be cross-examined on the secret tape recording which allegedly depicts him as corrupt. Kilukumi had objected saying the cross- examination should be done after the recordings are heard and another transcript is made in the presence of an independent Kikuyu translator since the earlier transcript of the recording has Kikuyu words supplied by ‘someone not faithful’. Justice Onyancha issued an order to spare Murungaru from the interrogation on the tapes saying that he would only be grilled in relation to the tapes in question after both parties have listened to them together and have come up with an agreeable transcript of its content. The former minister alleges that Githongo collaborated with the media in a defaming him through various publications. According to Murungaru, the dossier on Anglo Leasing is not based on any evidence but is ‘a pack of conjecture, falsehoods, rumours, gossip, inconclusive inferences, suspicion and hearsay. In a previous testimony he said that those who signed the contracts, received money for the ghost security projects and returned cash to the government have identities but still remain hidden. Andrew Wandabwa representing Githongo said that officers at Treasury then provided unsatisfactory information about individuals who were not the actual culprits and were sacked, charged and fined heavily in court. In part the alleged Githongo dossier alleges that the Meru Senator, Kiraitu Murungi had openly admitted to him that the scam being investigated in 2005 by the Kenya Anti- Corruption Commission, KACC were engineered by of Murungaru and Alfred Getonga.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 05:19:27 +0000
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