Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu has excused herself from a case that involves businessman Geoffrey Asanyo who appealed against the dismissal of a Ksh43 million compensation demand.
The businessman was seeking compensation for the said amount for wrongful arrest and malicious prosecution in 2002.
The vice president of the Supreme Court opted out of the case as Asanyo's lawyer Okong’o Omogeni is in the legal team defending her from prosecution on alleged corruption cases.
Senior State Counsel Cliff Menge, representing the Attorney General, had applied for the adjournment on the ground that an urgent application had been filed at the court of appeal and a ruling was yet to be passed.
Justices Mwilu, Mohamed Ibrahim, Smokin Wanjala, Njoki Ndung’u and Isaac Lenaola postponed the hearing of the matter pending the appointment of a fresh bench.
On the case, the complainant had been arrested in 2002 for allegedly corruptly giving Ksh 180,000 to Zipporah Wandera, a former town clerk to the now-defunct City council of Nairobi, for her to facilitate the payments to one of his companies.
On May 21, 2014, retired high court judge David Onyancha awarded Asanyo and his firms a whooping Ksh421 million for malicious arrest, detention, and prosecution which adversely affected his reputation after the Attorney General had dropped all charges against him.
The AG, dissatisfied with the decision, filed an appeal but the parties were involved in negotiations trying to find an amicable settlement to the matter.
The businessman finally accepted a final all-inclusive offer of Ksh 42.8 million.
