Former National Youth Service (NYS) Director General Dr Nelson Githinji. He has been cleared of abuse of office charges. [Photo|The Standard]
Former NYS Director Dr Nelson Githinji is a free man after a Milimani court quashed his prosecution over abuse of office after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) applied to withdraw the case.
Githinji had been accused among other things, of using Sh497,000 public funds to service his private vehicle.
Milimani senior principal magistrate Lucas Onyina on Wednesday discharged Githinji, his former personal assistant Nicholas Makokha and senior mechanic Geoffrey Kiriha, following the DPPs move.
Senior state counsel Mercy Gateru called for the matter to be withdrawn after the Court of Appeal terminated a graft case against former Transport CS Michael Kamau on grounds that the EACC was not properly constituted during the period of his investigation and prosecution, reports the Star.
"We seek to have these cases withdrawn since they were also investigated during the same period," Gateru said.
Appellate judges Milton Makhandia, William Ouko and Kathurima M’Inoti ruled in July that the former CS was illegally charged in court and that allowing the DPP to continue with the prosecution will be committing an injustice. Many high profile cases have since been withdrawn since the ruling was delivered.
"The law is very clear that EACC can only be properly constituted to perform its duties with at least three commissioners. We find that their decision to forward the file to DPP to prosecute Kamau was illegal, null and void," the judges ruled.
Makhokha and Kiriha were charged that they had allegedly used their positions to help Githinji benefit with Sh497,000 from NYS accounts to repair his personal vehicle on June 4, 2014, at NYS headquarters in Ruaraka.
The three were suspended from the NYS and charged in November 2015 with two counts of abuse of office and failure to comply with procedures on management of public funds.
Githinji alone was charged with abuse of office for allegedly using public funds to repair his private vehicle and fraudulently acquiring public property. He was also facing other charges, including fraud and attempt to defraud the government through irregular procurement processes.