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Tunoi questions authenticity of alleged NIS report

Ngatia's demand on Thursday led to the adjournment of the tribunal until Tuesday next week, to enable it get confirmation from NIS/FILE

Ngatia’s demand on Thursday led to the adjournment of the tribunal until Tuesday next week, to enable it get confirmation from NIS/FILE

NAIROBI, Kenya, June 2- Justice Phillip Tunoi’s lead counsel Fred Ngatia has demanded to know the authenticity of a letter purported to have been written by the National Intelligence Service touching on allegations of the Sh200 million bribery probe.

Ngatia’s demand on Thursday led to the adjournment of the tribunal until Tuesday next week, to enable it get confirmation from NIS.

The letter is part of the alleged report from NIS, which was presented to the Judicial Service Commission and was “heavily relied upon the report (from NIS)” according to Ngatia

“This document emanated from NIS, as a matter of fact, throughout the JSC recommendation, this report features the collaborative part. Without it, it is only allegations flying from one person to the other,” Ngatia argued before the tribunal.

The lawyer insisted he will not proceed with cross-examination of Judiciary Ombudsman Kennedy Bidali without, “knowing whether this is a report from NIS or elsewhere. If only we knew the position, we would know which way to go.”

The tribunal’s Lead Counsel Paul Omondi however revealed that on April 19, the tribunal wrote to the Director General of the National Intelligence Service over the report, allegedly emanating from the service, as given by JSC.

“We wrote to the Director General of NIS asking him to confirm whether that document was indeed authored by NIS,” Nyamodi said.

“I can report to the tribunal Mr Chairman that we are in receipt of a response by the Director General of the National Intelligence Service, but it is classified.”

He said the tribunal was in the process of asking the Director General to de-classify the document, for him to share the content of the letter- confirming whether NIS authored the document or not- with Ngatia.

This was after Ngatia insisted that: “JSC proceeded on the basis that this document emanated from the NIS”, an argument the tribunal Chairperson Sharad Rao agreed with.

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Rao however said the tribunal would not rely on the NIS report.

The letter was tabled at the tribunal by Bidali who said it was delivered to him by an official from the spy agency.

It has since been relied on heavily and forms part of the evidence Ngatia intends to rely on in cross examining Bidali following his testimony on Monday.

The alleged NIS contains information that suggested that Justice Tunoi and Geoffrey Kiplagat, his accuser, had meetings and phone conversations, details that led to the formation of the tribunal.

Bidali had asked for the report from the National Intelligence Service, during the early stage of the probe at the Judiciary.

Ngatia hinted that he may proceed to High Court, if his demands are not met, for the National Intelligence Security unnamed officer to confirm the authenticity of the report.

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