A Nairobi court has acquitted Kakamega Deputy Governor Ayub Savula and his two wives, Melody Gatwiri Ringera and Hellen Kemboi of forgery charges related to a government advertising tender in the Ministry of Health for lack of evidence.
Milimani Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina on Friday ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove the allegations beyond reasonable doubt.
In his ruling, the magistrate stated: “From the evidence adduced in court, the accused persons were not found in possession of the alleged document. None of the witnesses testified, tendered evidence linking the accused persons here with the signature on it.”
The trio had been accused of forging a Ministry of Health requisition letter dated January 10, 2017, which was allegedly intended to defraud the Government Advertising Agency (GAA) of millions of shillings.
The prosecution claimed the letter was made without lawful authority and purportedly signed by Judith Sirima, a Ministry of Health official.
While acquitting the three, the magistrate noted that in her testimony, Ms Sirima firmly denied authoring the letter in question.
She told the court: “I also have a letter dated January 10, 2017 addressed to the director Advertising Agency. The author is Judith Sirima as indicated. That would be me. I am not the author of this letter. It has my name, but does not have my signature. This is not my signature. I do not know where this letter originated from.”
The court noted that the prosecution failed to call witnesses who could link the document to Savula and his two wives, or show who received the forged document at the GAA.
Magistrate Onyina added: “The prosecution did not provide evidence to show who received the document at the Government Advertising Agency. There is no proof against any accused person that they were in possession of the document. I find the evidence adduced in this case cannot secure a conviction since no prima facie case has been established against the accused persons to enable them to be placed on their defence.”
He proceeded to acquit them under Section 210 of the Criminal Procedure Code and ordered the refund of the cash bail of Sh 1 million deposited by Savula and Sh500,000 each by his two wives on October 29, 2018, and their passports.
Savula, Ringera, and Kemboi had faced charges that, on January 10, 2017, at an unknown place within Kenya, they jointly with others not before court, and with intent to defraud, unlawfully made a false document purporting to be a requisition letter from the Ministry of Health signed by Judith Sirima.
The acquittal comes after last year the DPP Renson Ingonga in the same case also dropped Sh122 million fraud charges against Savula and his two wives and 14 others under section 87A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) saying the same was necessitated by the death of a star witness Jennifer Wambua, a former acting communications director at National Land Commission (NLC) and a High Court decision that found the contract at the center of the dispute was valid.
In the case, Savula and his wives had been listed in the case as directors of Sunday Publishers Limited, Melsav Company Limited, Johnnewton Communications, Express Media Group, No Burns Protection Agencies Limited, Cross Continents Ventures Limited, and Shiledlock Limited, entities which are said to have irregularly received Sh122.3 million.
