Anti-corruption court Chief Magistrate Douglas Ogoti is reportedly the second most protected Judicial officer after Chief Justice David Maraga.
According to sources at Milimani Law Courts, the Magistrate’s security was beefed up from one bodyguard to 12 elite bodyguards after he started handling high profile corruption cases.
With most of the suspects holding powerful positions, the State reportedly guaranteed Ogoti of his safety, by making sure that he didn’t feel threatened by any of the officials or their surrogates who would want to subvert the trials.
This week, the tough magistrate became a household name after he imposed stringent bond terms on Samburu Governor Moses Lenolkulal, when he ordered him to pay Ksh100 million cash bail or post Ksh150 million bond and not to set foot in his office.
Speaking to The Star in an exclusive interview on Wednesday, Ogoti robustly defended his tough decisions.
“Corruption is equal to murder, maybe worse,” he declared.
His work has, however, not been without challenges. He cited the NYS scandal in 2018 in which he denied bail to the 43 accused persons, including former PS Lilian Omollo.
In the same year, he sentenced former Nairobi Town clerk John Gakuo and Local Government ex-PS Sammy Kirui to a three-year jail term over their roles in the Ksh283 million Lang’ata cemetery land scam.
The 50-year-old jurist nonetheless, revealed that he had never been threatened or intimidated in the line of duty.
Ogoti, who is an SDA Church elder, started working at the Judiciary in 2016. Prior to that, he worked at the ODPP for almost 20 years as a prosecutor before he became a magistrate.
According to reports,State House gave directives to the office of the Inspector General of Police to avail sufficient protection to all the judicial officers and prosecutors as the war on corruption intensifies.
