Kakamega Deputy Governor Ayub Savula and his two wives, Melody Gatwiri Ringera and Hellen Kemboi, have been acquitted of Sh122 million forgery charges relating to a government advertising tender at the Ministry of Health, after the prosecution failed to present sufficient evidence.
Delivering the ruling on Friday, Milimani Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina found that the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) had not proved the allegations beyond reasonable doubt.
“From the evidence adduced in court, the accused person was not in possession of the alleged document. None of the witnesses testified, tendered evidence linking the accused persons here with the signature on it,” Magistrate Onyina stated.
The trio had been accused of forging a Ministry of Health requisition letter dated January 10, 2017, allegedly used to defraud the Government Advertising Agency (GAA).
The prosecution claimed the letter was authored without authority and bore the forged signature of Judith Sirima, a Ministry of Health official.
However, Ms. Sirima disowned the letter in court, telling the court: “I also have a letter dated 10 January 2017 addressed to the director [Government] Advertising Agency. The author is Judith Sirima as indicated. That would be me. I am not the author of this letter. It has my name, but does not have my signature. This is not my signature. I do not know where this letter originated from.”
Magistrate Onyina noted that the letter, which was produced in court as Exhibit 6, had been sent for forensic analysis along with Ms. Sirima’s specimen signature.
The forensic examiner concluded that the document was not authored or signed by her.
‘The alleged forged requisition letter was attached to a payment voucher and was found in the offices of Government Advertising Agency in the course of the investigation by officers,” the magistrate said, adding that the letter bore a receiving stamp dated January 1, 2017, a public holiday.
Further weakening the prosecution’s case, the investigating officer admitted during cross-examination that he did not submit the specimen signatures of Savula and his two wives, making it impossible to link them directly to the alleged forgery.
“The prosecution did not provide evidence to show who received the document at the Government Advertising Agency. There is no proof against any accused person that they were in possession of the document,” Magistrate Onyina concluded.
“I find the evidence adduced in this case cannot secure a conviction since no prima facie case has been established against the accused persons to enable them to be placed on their defence.”
He therefore acquitted all three under Section 210 of the Criminal Procedure Code, and ordered the refund of their cash bail: Sh1 million for Savula, and Sh500,000 each for Ringera and Kemboi.
The magistrate also ordered the release of their passports, which had been deposited in court on October 29, 2018.
The charges had stated that on January 10, 2017, at an unknown place in Kenya, the three “jointly with others not before court, and with intent to defraud, unlawfully made a false document purporting to be a requisition letter from the Ministry of Health signed by Judith Sirima.”
This acquittal follows a related decision last year, when DPP Renson Ingonga dropped Sh122 million fraud charges against the same trio and 14 others under Section 87A of the Criminal Procedure Code.
That move was attributed to the death of Jennifer Wambua, a key witness and former acting communications director at the National Land Commission, as well as a High Court ruling that found the contract at the center of the dispute to be valid.
Savula and his wives were listed in the case as directors of several entities alleged to have received irregular payments amounting to Sh122.3 million, including: Sunday Publishers Limited, Melsav Company Limited, Johnnewton Communications, Express Media Group, No Burns Protection Agencies Limited,Cross Continents Ventures Limited and Shieldlock Limited
