The Director of Public Prosecution will not be allowed to start trial of corruption suspects before investigators furnish them with documentary and electronic evidence, the anti-corruption court in Nairobi has ruled.
Milimani Chief Magistrate Douglas Ogoti has ruled that it is after the prosecution has disclosed the evidence and compiled an inventory of documents exchanged with the defence that trial will be commencing.
Henceforth, it is only upon fulfilment of the conditions that he issued relating to disclosure of evidence, that the plea in corruption trials will be accepted for registration and only then will a matter be fixed for plea taking, insisted Mr Ogoti.
The court introduced its own motion in the Governor Sonko's case on “why can’t the DPP/investigating agencies disclose (evidence) at the time of arrest just before plea?
"The accused is kept in the dark on the facts and evidence against him and forced at many a time to enter a plea of guilty without knowing the strength of the case against him," noted Mr Ogoti.
