Mwau aides face charges over staged shooting

BY BERNARD MOMANYI

Facebook

Email

Print

null 1/1 NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 29 - Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere wants the arrest and prosecution of a driver and bodyguard to Kilome MP Harun Mwau for allegedly lying that they were shot at while driving in the city centre last week. Mr Iteere said evidence had shown that the two had given false information after stage-managing the shooting of Mr Mwau's Range Rover to make it appear as if they had been attacked. "The said motor vehicle was not shot at the said place because there were no empty bullet cartridges at the scene of the purported shooting," Mr Iteere said of the claims made by the two. The Police chief told a media conference at Vigilance House on Wednesday morning that "there is no shred of evidence to prove that the vehicle was shot at on City Hall way as alleged." The two had claimed they were attacked on their way to the Intercontinental Hotel where they were going to pick their boss. "The impressions made by bullets on the body of the motor vehicle are consistent with those made on a stationary target and not on a moving one,' he observed. He maintained his earlier position that "it was impossible for the occupants of the motor vehicle to have escaped without injuries if at all they were inside the motor vehicle at the time." "In view of the above, I have directed that the file be forwarded to the DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions) with a recommendation that the two individuals be charged in court for the offence of giving false information." He said detectives were still investigating the motive of the incident, how it occurred and where. On Thursday last week, the driver and bodyguard of the Kilome MP claimed that unknown attackers had opened fire on the car as they drove on City Hall Way, shattering the window on the driver's door. The two told police none of them was injured, but police said that after critically examining the vehicle, they had established beyond reasonable doubt that one or both of them should have sustained serious injuries in the attack. Detectives said bullet holes on the vehicle were not consistent with their statements that they were shot at when the car was stationery. Mr Mwau has previously expressed fears for his life after US President Barrack Obama designated him a drug kingpin. He had asked Internal Security Minister Professor George Saitoti to enhance his security, which Mr Iteere told reporters had already been effected. Mr Mwau said he feared that the US government could be targeting him for elimination and even claimed that a vehicle with foreign registration numbers had been trailing him. The US government on Tuesday insisted it had overwhelming evidence linking Mr Mwau to narcotics trafficking. The US Treasury department said the lawmaker and another Kenyan woman designated as drug kingpins could only get their names struck off the list once they confessed to their crimes and assured the world that they had quit the criminal activities because there was overwhelming evidence against them. The US Treasury Department director Adam Szubin said Mr Mwau and Naima Mohammed Nyakiniywa alias Mama Lela have the option of petitioning through an attorney with confessions and undertaking that they will never deal in drugs. "Before the President of the USA designates any individual as a drug kingpin, there must be water tight evidence which is sought over a period of time. We don't operate on  rumours or hearsay, we have overwhelming evidence on Mwau and Mama Lela," Szubin said, and urged the two to follow due legal process as outlined in the Kingpin Act to have their names struck off the list "only if they satisfy those conditions." "They can petition to see the evidence we have against them, this process is very active. But what I can assure them is that, they are not guaranteed at all to be told that their names were wrongly placed in the list, the process only gives them a chance to petition so as to see the evidence, confess that they have been dealing in drugs and give an undertaking that they will not in future deal in narcotics," he added Tuesday when he addressed Kenyan journalists via a video conference from Washington. The confessions and petitions must be in an affidavit. Follow the author at https://twitter.com/momanyibernard

Read more: http://capitalfm.co.ke/news/Kenyanews/Mwau-aides-face-charges-over-staged-shooting-13401.html#ixzz1Qi3rgGhm
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives