High Court rejects magistrate ruling on evidence disclosure

The High Court has overturned a decision of a magistrate directing investigating agencies to furnish suspects with documentary and electronic evidence before they plead to the charges.

In a win for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), Justice Mumbi Ngugi faulted chief magistrate Douglas Ogoti saying he granted himself powers he does not have.

Mr Ogoti had ruled that the prosecution should disclose all the evidence it intends to use before a suspect pleads to the charge.

The magistrate further said the DPP and EACC should file an inventory capturing every document that it had supplied to the defence, for the defence team to confirm the contents of the inventory.

He made a ruling in a corruption case in which Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has been charged together with 12 other persons and 5 companies.

But Justice Ngugi overturned the decision saying there is no provision in criminal procedure code (CPC) that empowers the court to reject a charge sheet on the basis that it is not accompanied by an inventory of the evidence, which the prosecution intends to rely on.

In May, the magistrate directed the DPP and EACC to disclose all evidence it intends to rely on prior to registration of plea in the anti-corruption court.

But the DPP argued that the magistrate decided on a matter that was not before him and had stopped being an impartial arbiter. Supporting the appeal, EACC said the magistrate had no powers to issue generic directions to be applied broadly in all matters.