The Nation (Nairobi)
Sam Kiplagat
3 November 2009
Nairobi — Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission wants a former permanent secretary punished for failing to comply with the law.
In the suit filed by former Treasury PS Joseph Magari, the commission says he ignored a notice requiring him to give the anti-graft body a list of his properties.
Through lawyer B.K. Ruto, the commission said Mr Magari was sent the notice on July 12, 2006 requiring him to furnish the commission with a list of properties he had acquired between 1991 and 2002.
But instead of complying with the notice, Mr Magari cried foul saying the commission was targeting his properties, thus seeking to infringe upon his rights.
However, Mr Ruto said, there was no evidence to show that the graft watchdog was targeting the former PS's properties.
He also denied claims that the commission wanted to use the information against Mr Magari in a criminal case pending before a Makadara court.
"The petitioner has overstretched his imagination over the infringement of his rights. The rights he is complaining about are not absolute and can be curtailed whenever there is reasonable suspicion," the lawyer said.
Through his lawyer Pravin Bowry, the former PS said it was illegal for the commission to inquire into his properties especially where he acquired them before the Act he is being charged under, was in force.
The notice, he said, was issued in 2006 over properties he acquired between 1991 and 2002, when the Anti Corruption and Economic Crimes Act, was not in force.
Mr Magari was first charged in an Anglo Leasing related case but he filed a constitutional petition seeking its dismissal.
Supporting the commission, the Attorney-General asked judges Hatari Waweru, Luka Kimaru and Ruth Sitati to dismiss the case saying it was Mr Magari's mistake for failing to comply with the notice.
The hearing continues on Wednesday.
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