Suspects in the National Youth Service (NYS) Ksh9 billion scandal will remain in police custody as they await the court’s ruling on whether they will be released on bail or not on June 6.
In a ruling made by Chief Magistrate Douglas Ogoti at 1:55am on Tuesday, suspended PS Lilian Omollo and NYS boss Richard Ndubai and other suspects were told that bond ruling would be delivered on June 5 and pre-trials to commence on June 6.
“Our client is no longer in office she stepped aside… she cannot interfere with ongoing investigations as purportedly said by the prosecution. If she was to influence witnesses, she would have done it from 2015,” Omollo's lawyer pleaded.
Opposing the defense lawyers’ plea for bond, the Prosecution went on to claim that the suspects posed a flight risk.
[caption caption="Chief Magistrate Douglas Ogoti"]
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They further argued that the evidence gathered was strong and sufficient to secure a conviction against all the accused persons and hence there was the likelihood of them absconding if released on bail.
The prosecution maintained that since the accused persons were being investigated for other fraudulent financial transactions at NYS, they should remain in police custody pending hearing and determination of the case.
Chief Magistrate Ogoti further ruled that those who failed to appear in court on Tuesday to present themselves at the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) by Thursday 2 pm.
Earlier, defense lawyers opposed arrest warrants against the absentee suspects arguing the Prosecutor did not summon them properly with papers and instead wanted them to rely on media reports.
The Tuesday court session saw the 33 NYS scandal suspects charged with conspiracy to commit an economic crime to defraud over Ksh 28million, to which they all pleaded not guilty.
[caption caption="Members of the press in court "]
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PS Omollo was further charged with abuse of office while Ndubai was charged with willfully failing to comply with applicable laws on public funds.
