NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 1 — A judge sitting at the Milimani Milimani Law Courts has overturned the acquittal of former Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa in a fake arms case initiated in February 2020.
In a decision rendered on Thursday, Justice Kanyi Kimondo ordered a retrial of the Sh39 billion arms deal in which the Echesa, now Chairperson of Kenya Water Towers Agency Board, was charged with forgery.
He referred the matter for a mention before a magistrate on March 4.
Kimondo said the trial magistrate erred in acquitting Echesa without consideration of testimonies from certain witnesses.
Echesa was charged alongside Daniel Otieno, Clifford Okoth, Kennedy Oyoo, and Chrispin Oduor for conspiracy to commit the felony, making a document without authority, obtaining money by false pretence, and uttering a false document.
Kimondo ruled that the prosecution presented a strong case against Echesa further noting that the trial court should have had him answerable to the case putting him on defense rather than acquitting him.
The Public Prosecutor welcomed the court’s decision.
