The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) now says that a colossal amount of money was recovered from the chambers of two judges arrested last week at Milimani Law Courts.
High Court Judges Aggrey Muchelule and Said Chitembwe were arrested on Monday last week and grilled for hours at DCI Headquarters on Kiambu Road over alleged graft dealings.
In an affidavit filed in court Chief Inspector Felix Banzi said DCI sleuths recovered $50,000 (Ksh5.4 million) from an unidentified woman in Justice Muchelule’s chambers and a further $7,000 (760,200) from Chitembwe, totaling to Ksh6.2 million.
Interestingly, an inventory filed in court last week by lawyer Danstan Omari signed by all the officers present indicated that nothing was recovered from Justice Muchelule’s chambers.
Appearing in court on behalf of the Kenya Judges and Magistrates Association (KMJA), Omari obtained orders stopping the state from rearresting and prosecuting the judges over corruption.
But the DCI has denied arresting the judges.
Read: High Court Judges Aggrey Mchelule and Said Chitembwe Arrested
The police maintain that the judges were only requested to accompany detectives to DCI headquarters for purposes of recording statements to assist in investigations.
According to Banzi, police had received a complaint that some brokers had approached select judges with a view of obtaining favourable judgements.
“On July 21 at around 3pm I was told by one of the complainants that after a series of meetings between certain judges and brokers a figure of Ksh7 million was arrived at and the bribe was to be delivered to the residence of a judge at 7pm,” Banzi said.
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The court heard that the parties, however, abruptly changed the venue and rescheduled the meeting to the next day at 7.45am in one of the chambers at Milimani law courts.
On the fateful day, Banzi said police arrived at the venue at 7.30am and waited for the exchange.
“We waited around the relevant meeting area from our time of arrival until 2pm when information was received that the exchange was about to take place but at chamber 230 which belongs to Justice Muchelule, ” the affidavit reads.
The police claim that the meeting was being facilitated by justice Chitembwe.
Read Also: Judge’s Association in Court to Stop Prosecution of Justices Muchelule and Chitembwe
They proceeded to the chambers where they recovered the money.
Banzi, who wants police to dismiss the case filed by KMJA, argues that due to the short notice police couldn’t obtain a search warrant.
KMJA has accused the state of interfering with the independence of the Judiciary.
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