Suspended Supreme Court Judge Philip Tunoi rebuffed former Kass radio journalist Geoffrey Kiplagat five times in his efforts to secure appointments to discuss alleged bribery offers by allies of Nairobi Goveror Evans Kidero in May 2014, it emerged yesterday. Kiplagat confessed before the tribunal investigating the sensational Sh200m bribery allegations that the 72-year-old judge rejected his advances to meet him in Eldoret twice and on three other occasions at Kengeles in Lavington and the Consolata Shrine in Nairobi.
The scribe, who described himself as well-connected, claimed that he called the Judge on May 21, 2014 and explained to him that Kidero’s henchmen wanted assistance to win the election petition lodged by politician Ferdinand Waititu and which was pending before the Supreme Court.
He said businessman Ernest Keittany advised him to visit the Judge in his chambers, where they discussed the issue in detail. But after this meeting, Justice Tunoi did not honour Kiplagat’s further invitations. Kiplagat said he did not know whether the judge met with Kidero, his personal assistant identified as Osoro or businessman Mike Njeru.
Kiplagat, who was being cross-examined by lawyer Fred Ngatia, recalled that he received a telephone call from lawyer Katwa Kigen to invite him for lunch at Pasara Hotel in Lonrho Building, Nairobi where they discussed “in whispers” the alleged Sh200 million bribe the Judge had reportedly demanded.
Katwa was accompanied by one of Kidero’s pointmen, identified as Kiprop. The seven-member tribunal heard that Njeru, who was in the United Kingdom, had offered his office in Westlands, Nairobi, where Kidero and the Judge were to meet later in the evening.
However, Katwa reportedly advised him to wait at the Kasuku Centre in Kileleshwa to show them directions to Njeru’s office. The scribe also said he never instructed anybody to deliver his explosive affidavit to the head of the Judiciary and the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), which recommended to President Uhuru Kenyatta to suspend the long-serving judge and appointed the seven-member tribunal to investigate alleged misconduct and misbehaviour.
Kiplagat claimed he was picked up at 8pm by Katwa in a Mercedes Benz car, while Justice Tunoi sat on the left back seat. They drove to Petro filling station off Waiyaki Way and parked in the expansive compound towards the exit. Sortly thereafter, Kiprop allegedly drove into the petrol station accompanied by Kidero and another person in a Land Cruiser.
Kiprop reportedly carried a heavy suitcase measuring about 20 by 35 by 75 centimetres towards the Mercedes Benz and Katwa allegedly bent to facilitate safe passage to the judge. After the alleged hand-over, Katwa gave Kiplagat Sh20, 000 since he was attending a funeral in Edoret the following day.
He said he was dropped off a short distance on the highway. Under intense questioning by Ngatia, the scribe admitted that he did not see the actual contents of the suitcase. He conceded that Kidero and the Judge did not personally meet during the encounter.
Kiplagat dismissed as “ridiculous” an assertion by Ngatia that he had introduced himself as Hon Nicholas Biwott when he telephoned the Judge and that afterwards, the Judge refused to meet with him or discuss anything with him. Kiplagat said he did not consider Njeru his enemy but was alarmed when the businessman allegedly warned him that he risked death if he insisted on following up on the Sh30million he had been promised for facilitating the bribery.
He said Kidero’s aide, Osoro similarly threatened him with dire consequences if he did not stop his demands for the money. The former scribe said he felt his life was in danger after he was threatened in Kalenjin by three strangers, who stopped him at Nairobi West, ostensibly seeking directions to Ongata Rongai.
“I concluded they were tracking me,” he said. The witness said he approached Senior Counsel Paul Muite, who advised him to record an affidavit explaining his predicament. But he never reported the threats to any police station, he said.
He said he did not know that Muite had represented Waititu in his election petition against Kidero or that the veteran lawyer acted for the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) in the petition filed by Justice Tunoi challenging the 70-year retirement age for all Judges Kiplagat denied that he went to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations headquarters where he asked a police officer to record the alleged threats to his life with the aim of demanding money from Kidero.
He denied having dealt with Kidero during the last General Election and said he was busy campaigning for a parliamentary seat in his rural home. Asked on which political party he sought elective office, Kiplagat caused laughter when he said he could not have been a member of the Inkatha Freedom Party of South Africa or Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) in Tanzania. He was actually in the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), he later clarified. Ends.
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