Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission chairman Mumo Matemu revealed yesterday that he was warned by influential individuals that he would be brought down should he prosecute former Registrar of High Court Gladys Shollei.
He told members of the Legal and Justice Affairs committee that Shollei’s husband Sam walked to his office and told him to his face that he will bring him down should he touch his wife.
“The gentleman (Sam Shollei) came to my office and during a lengthy conversation that we had told me to drop the investigations on his wife or else he brings me down using the media house he runs and Parliament,†said Matemu. The commission chair went ahead to play before the committee a clip of the conversation which he recorded where Shollei is heard issuing the threats.
He further told the committee that the forces behind the Anglo Leasing scandal, the Geothermal Development Corporation (GDC) and Karen land, were behind the current crisis at the commission.
“We are in the process of taking to court the second case on Anglo Leasing, the one on GDC and the Karen land in two weeks time,†he told the stunned committee members, adding that unknown forces at the commission had forged his signature in a letter claiming that he had cleared the GDC management from any wrongdoing.
“It is now the question of who gets who first. The forces are hell bent to stop the commission from achieving its mandate to prosecute. We knew from the word go that the moment we start with big cases it would be tough,†Matemu added.
On the “List of Shame†given to President Uhuru Kenyatta, Matemu dispelled claims that it was edited to include some individuals saying that commission CEO had provided the President with a list containing names of institutions under probe only for him to demand a list of individuals involved.
Earlier committee chairman Samuel Chepkonga was asked to step down for his vice chair Priscilla Nyokabi for allegedly being an interested party to the matter under investigation.
Matemu further revealed that commissioner Jane Onsongo had not written to him informing him of her resignation, but had only sought for an annual leave, which he granted. “As far as we are concerned commissioner Onsongo is on leave, I have made frantic efforts to contact her only to be told that she is out of the country,†said Matemu.
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