Activist Okiya Omtatah has rushed to court in a bid to stop Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu from taking over as acting Chief Justice on a temporary basis tomorrow when CJ Maraga goes on terminal leave.
CJ Maraga is set to officially retire tomorrow after serving as the country’s 14th Chief Justice since October 2016.
The advocate claims that in view of the corruption allegations leveled against her by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) she is not fit to hold the CJ office.
DCI sleuths are after the DCJ on money laundering claims.
The police claim failed lender Imperial Bank had advanced a KSh60 million loan to Justice Mwilu in June 2015, for the purchase of a piece of land in Nairobi, claims she has denied.
Justice Mwilu in turn is alleged to have sent Sh36 million to ex-Nairobi County speaker Alex Ole Magelo’s wife, Lucy, and channeled another Sh10 million to Blue Nile East Africa.
On June 22, DCI sleuths secured a search warrant from the Chief Magistrate’s Court permitting them to investigate a bank account operated by one of the companies mentioned in the case.
Upon the collapse of Imperial Bank, Justice Mwilu is alleged to have struck a deal with the receiver-manager in which she would get her security returned to her and she was to offer another piece of land as a substitute.
The judge is facing 13 counts of abuse of office, tax evasion, and fraudulent recovery of loan securities and was to be charged alongside her lawyer Stanley Kiima.
