Embattled FKF boss Nick Mwendwa graft case ruling put off, again
A ruling to determine whether embattled Football Kenya Federation (FKF) president Nick Mwendwa will be charged with theft of Sh8.5m has been put off for a third time.
Kiambu magistrate Wilson Rading was scheduled to pronounce the fate of the youthful football boss on Friday.
Rading was however absent on Tuesday when the case had been slotted for ruling.
This ruling has been put off twice November and in October 2022.
Mwendwa has opposed a renewed bid by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji to charge him with theft of Sh8.5m property of FKF and conspiracy to defraud the soccer body over Sh29.5m.
Three defence lawyers Eric Mutua, Charles Njenga and Victor Omwebu have opposed the fresh bid by DPP to prosecute Mwendwa after being discharged in July by Milimani Nairobi anti-corruption court chief magistrate Eunice Nyuttu.
“The new move to charge Mwendwa before this Kiambu court when he had been discharged by the anti-graft court Nairobi amounts to forum shopping,”Mutua told Rading.
The magistrate was further urged to reject the new case with Mwendwa’s legal team saying it’s an affront to the constitutional rights of Mwendwa.
Mutua told the magistrate the fresh case stems from evidence compiled by a committee appointed by former sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed to probe expenditure of funds granted to FKF by the government to develop spotting talents in the country.
The committees funds probe report is the one which crime detectives from the country’s investigation bureau (DCI) relied on to file the initial and the intended charges.
Mwendwa was charged with graft last year and freed on a bond of Sh10million.
But the DPP through Kiambu County prosecutor Everlyne Onunga has asked Rading to allow him to allow DPPs plea to prosecute the FKF boss.
Ms Onunga told the magistrate there is evidence to support the theft and fraud charges.
Onunga has urged Rading to allow DPP to proceed and prosecute Mwendwa.
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