Fraud case: Ruto gave job to key potential witness

This just came up:

Suspended Higher Education minister William Ruto gave a parastatal job to a potential key witness in a fraud case against him.

Mr Ruto appointed Hellen Chege Njue to the board of trustees of the Coffee Development Fund in July 2009. The Eldoret North MP then was the minister for Agriculture under which the parastatal falls.

Ms Njue was the finance manager at the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) when Sh272 million was paid out for plots in Nairobi’s Ngong Forest, a case which landed Mr Ruto, former President Moi’s aide Joshua Kulei and former Lands Commissioner and current Baringo Central MP Sammy Mwaita in court.

In acquitting Mr Ruto and his co-accused on Tuesday last week, Nairobi chief magistrate Gilbert Mutembei made it clear that Ms Njue was the missing link in the prosecution’s case.

“The prosecution failed to produce in court the then finance manager Hellen Njue to give her evidence on how she paid out the money. It is, therefore, clear that none of the accused ever received any money from KPC. The prosecution has failed to prove its case thus all the accused persons have no case to answer,” Mr Mutembei ruled.

Mr Ruto’s appointment of Ms Njue to a parastatal under his ministry at a time when he was facing fraud charges will be seen as curious, considering she was one of the witnesses the prosecution would have relied on in its case.

Ms Njue could have testified against the minister had the prosecution sought her statement or called her as a witness, an omission which has been pointed out by lawyers. No explanation was given as to why Ms Njue was not called as a witness.

“Corporate bodies can only act through human beings and no evidence was placed before the court on identity of persons representing the corporate bodies who made false representations to Hellen Njue,” defence lawyers argued.

At the time of the appointment Mr Ruto was facing a charge of fraudulently receiving money from Ms Njue, acting on behalf of KPC, by pretending he could sell to the corporation 1.75 hectares of land in Ngong Forest. The offence is said to have been committed on September 6, 2001.

Ms Njue’s appointment to the parastatal was published in a Kenya Gazette notice (No. 5262) of May 21, 2009 which stated: “In exercise of the powers conferred by section 34 of the Coffee Act, 2001, the Minister for Agriculture appoints …Hellen Chege Njue (Ms), to be member of the Board of Trustees for the Coffee Development Fund, for a period of three (3) years, with effect from 29th April, 2009.”

The notice was signed by Mr Ruto. Ms Njue’s tenure at the board ends in April 2012.

The Coffee Development Fund was established in 2001 to provide credit and advances to coffee farmers.

False pretences

The charge sheet of July 27, 2004 did not list Ms Njue among the 10 witnesses in the case despite the investigating team asserting that Mr Ruto obtained Sh96 million from her by false pretences. This means that she was a complainant alongside KPC, and therefore would have been a prosecution witness

For more: http://www.nation.co.ke/News/politics/Fraud+case+Ruto+gave+job+to+key+potential+witness+/-/1064/1145926/-/t8qmt6z/-/index.html