The main reason that led to the removal of High Court judge Joseph Mutava was his ruling in the Goldenberg scandal involving Kamlesh Pattni, The Standard reports.
Mutava terminated all cases against the controversial billionaire in March 2013.
He also stopped investigating authorities from charging the businessman with any offence relating to the Goldenberg scandal where taxpayers lost Ksh 5.8 billion.
Mutava further ruled that Pattni would not get a fair trial since the case had been prolonged and some of the witnesses had died.
He declared that there was no complainant to warrant pursuing the case since Pattni had agreed to surrender the Grand Regency Hotel and returned Treasury Bills.
The businessman had been in the dock since 1994 when he was accused of being behind one of Kenya’s biggest thefts of the public coffers.
The case had dragged for more than 20 years when Mutava took it up.
The judge, who is married to Kibwezi East MP Jessica Mbalu, was hired by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) in August 2011.
He was among the first batch of lawyers to be appointed after promulgation of the 2010 Constitution.
The JSC received complaints about his conduct six months after his appointment. However, the straw that broke the camel's back was his ruling in Pattni's case in March 2013.
In May 2013, the JSC found that there were sufficient grounds to petition the president to form a tribunal to investigate how he handled the case.
The tribunal that was appointed by President Uhuru Kenyatta found that he was unfit to serve as a judicial officer and recommended that he should be sacked.
Mutava moved to the Supreme Court to appeal the decision. However, the apex court upheld the tribunal's ruling on Tuesday and found him guilty of gross misconduct.
