Africa-Press – Kenya. High Court Judges Aggrey Muchelule and Said Juma Chitembwe have been arrested.
A report by Citizen TV indicated that the judges were arrested on the afternoon of Thursday, July 22, on allegations that they were implicated in a corruption scandal.
The two were interrogated by detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) for two hours before being set free.
They were accused of taking bribes for the various cases they were assigned.
The two were nabbed during a raid of their offices before being transferred to DCI headquarters located along Kiambu Road.
“They were arrested by the Battery of waiting police officers. They driven back to the chambers of Justice Muchelule and were told that there has been an exchange of money and that money was within his (Muchelule’s chambers).
“A search was conducted. Not even a coin was found within the chambers of Muchelule,” stated lawyer Danstan Omar.
They were arrested alongside their drivers as well as secretaries. One of the judges reportedly pocketed a bribe of Ksh5 million in a case that was to be determined on Thursday, July 22.
The other was accused of receiving a piece of land related to a case he determined
While chatting outside the DCI offices, the two vowed to fight the accusation till the end.
The two were among six judges who were not appointed to the court of appeal by President Uhuru Kenyatta at the beginning of June.
Uhuru, at the time, argued that the judges had issues of integrity as advised by a committee that looked into the conduct of the judges.
The President’s decision to leave out the judges led to a fallout with the judiciary. Two petitions were later filed challenging Uhuru’s decision.
