Bid to end Goldenberg case awaiting PS nod

By RICHARD MUNGUTI rmunguti@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Friday, August 19  2011 at  22:30

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The Director of Public of Prosecutions is waiting for advice from Treasury before deciding whether to terminate the Sh5.8 billion Goldenberg case against businessman Kamlesh Pattni.

Treasury PS Joseph Kinyua is yet to inform Mr Keriako Tobiko whether the government has cleared Mr Pattni, senior principal magistrate Grace Macharia was told on Friday.

Senior state counsel James Warui Mungai asked the court to give the prosecutor’s office at least two weeks to find out from the Treasury how much Mr Pattni had returned to the government.

“The DPP will determine the plea bargain request by Mr Pattni after he gets proper advice from Treasury,” Mr Mungai told the court.

Mr Pattni asked the court to terminate the Sh5.8 billion fraud case against him, arguing that he had settled the outstanding dues.

He said the government agreed to withdraw all the civil and criminal cases after handing over the Grand Regency Hotel, now Laico.

He handed over the five-star hotel to Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, which later withdrew a civil case against him.

Lawyer Bernard Kalove told the court that he communicated the agreement reached between Mr Pattni and Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission to the government.

Mr Mungai told the magistrate that the director of Criminal Investigations and Governor of Central Bank had responded to Mr Pattni’s request.

“We are now awaiting communication from Treasury PS on the suspects proposal on settling the issues which gave rise to the present court case,” he submitted.

Another suspect, Eliphaz Riungu, has asked the court to terminate the Sh5.8 billion Goldenberg case against him on health grounds.