Tinderet MP Henry Kosgey listened with consternation to charges that if convicted could see him jailed for 10 years or pay a maximum fine of Sh12 million. Hours earlier, he had stepped aside as a minister and waded through the humiliation of being taken through Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) Integrity Centre corridors as a suspect for finger-printing and preparation for court appearance.
Kosgey, Kenya’s longest serving MP and Cabinet member after President Kibaki, appeared before Nairobi Principal Magistrate Elijah Obaga in the afternoon facing 12 counts of abusing his office by allowing three companies and three individuals to import 123 vehicles that were more than eight years old.
But he had reason to smile when a retinue of political colleagues and ministers thronged the court corridors and took seats in a show of solidarity with him. Each count attracts a maximum fine of Sh1 million or imprisonment of up to 10 years or both.
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| Before court and sandwiched by police one’s mood changes as Kosgey’s face showed on Tuesday. [PHOTOS: EVANS HABIL/STANDARD] |
He was accused of having exempted four vehicles imported by Hussein Mohamed of Lagdera Technologies last November from the eight-year rule.
He allegedly extended similar benefit, between February and June this year, to Mr Simon Maina Kamau for importation of two vehicles, Mr Lawrence Karanja Waweru, one vehicle, car dealers Yuasa International 42, Pakens International, 51, Al Pacific, 16 and Bangal Cars, seven.
KACC claims he gave the exemption without the advice of the National Standards Council and without satisfying himself that it was in the national interest to do so. The commission will be calling his current and immediate former Permanent Secretaries Mr Karanja Kibicho and Mr John Lonyangapuo as the first witnesses.
Kosgey was escorted to court at 3pm by KACC investigators and several ODM MPs, among them Cabinet ministers Dr Sally Kosgei and Mr Franklin Bett. Nominated MP Millie Odhiambo was among his five defence lawyers led by Mr Julius Kemboy.
The MPs and lawyers chatted with Kosgey, who was dressed in a dark suit, as he sat silently on the bench before he was ushered to the dock by court orderlies.
After denying the charges, Kemboy urged the court to release Kosgey on free bond saying he had given 30 years of service to the country and was not a candidate for absconding.
Kemboy said the charges involved matters that were at the discretion of the minister. "There is nothing criminal in this and time will bail him out," he told the court.
But special Prosecutor Patrick Kiage objected to free bond saying each office attracted up to 10-year jail term. "You should also consider that the accused is facing a dozen counts and you should award bond bail that will give the court an assurance," Kiage told the magistrate.
Mr Obaga released him on Sh2 million cash bail and ordered the case be heard in March. He was escorted to the court basement cells as his relatives and lawyers organised to bail him out.
Before he appeared in court in the afternoon, Kosgey had in the morning announced his decision to step aside pending determination of charges facing him.
Mr Kosgey told journalists in his office he had written to President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga offering to step aside from his ministerial duties until the controversy over the car imports saga was resolved.
The PM’s office later sent a brief statement saying: "The PM acknowledges the offer by Kosgey to step aside from his ministerial duties until the case against him is dealt with."
Raila endorsed Kosgey’s request, after consultation with President Kibaki.
After his news conference, Kosgey presented himself to KACC detectives at Integrity Centre to face fraud charges. Officials at KACC said they took his fingerprints in readiness for the court appearance.
A host of MPs from his party arrived at the offices to show solidarity with him.
KACC detectives had been to his house more than twice looking for him but failed to get him.
Immediately after the press conference, he sped to the KACC offices in his private cars where he told the detectives he had learnt he was wanted over the allegations and was ready to be taken to court.
He went through the routine of finger-printing but stayed for more than five hours as the officers consulted on the way forward given that the time for registering cases at the courts had lapsed.
He was later driven from the commission offices at about 2:40 pm to the Law Courts.
During the press briefing at his Teleposta Towers office, Kosgey insisted he had committed no wrong in providing the exemptions.
Kosgey refused to answer questions from journalists but said the exemptions he granted were based on a legal notice, which provides that the Minister may issue them to vehicles older than eight years. "It is important to note that the practice of issuing exemptions in the manner did not begin with me. It occurred under my predecessor who used the same legal framework to grant exemptions. I, therefore, acted within the law and in accordance with precedent," he said.
The Tinderet MP added the State did not lose any money in the exemptions, arguing it was not a case of misappropriation of funds or corruption in the way most people understood the term to mean.
He said he was confident he would be vindicated in the fullness of time and that he was ready to co-operate with the anti-graft agency.
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