The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions on Friday, October 2, declined to approve charges against officials implicated in the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) scandal.
This is after the Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission (EACC)officials recommended the prosecution of six senior officials from the authority.
In a statement, DPP Haji stated that the matter had attracted great public expectation and it was important for the team to ensure that there was sufficient evidence to support charges with a reasonable prospect of conviction.
"The constitution provides that the DPP must exercise State powers of prosecution with regard to the public interest, the interests of the administration of justice and the need to prevent and avoid abuse of the legal process," reads the statement.
Additionally, the DPP indicated that his team had identified key areas that needed to be sufficiently covered by way of further investigations before the final decision could be made.
"Having carefully analysed the report by the team and considering the requirements for a strong and successful prosecution, I have come to the same conclusion that the identified areas should be covered by the EACC," he added.
Haji stated that his office had also not received an audit report that had been presented to the senate on September 30, 2020, by the Auditor General, Ms Nancy Gathungu.
Once the DPP received the report, he vowed that it would also be taken to consideration.
The DPP stated that the inquiry file had been returned to the EACC to cover the areas identified for further investigations.
"In order to fat-track the process, and in the spirit of team work, the prosecution team has been instructed to hold joint meetings with the EACC investigators so as to adequately address the identified gaps on sufficiency of evidence in accordance with the constitution, the ODPP Act, the Anti-corruption and Economic Crimes Act, the Criminal Procedure Code, the NPP and the DTC Guidelines among others," Haji stated.
On September 18, 2020, the DPP received an inquiry file from the EACC on the allegations of irregular procurement and fraudulent payments relating to the purchase and supply of Covid-19 emergency commodities at KEMSA which led to the irregular expenditure of public funds amounting to Ksh 7.8 billion.
