In unexpected twist, Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi is now a free man after the Anti-Corruption Court acquitted him of allegations of forging academic certificates.
Chief Magistrate Felix Kombo acquitted Sudi on all nine charges of forgery saying the evidence adduced in court was illegally and fraudulently obtained.
The Magistrate faulted the investigating agencies over how they obtained part of the evidence and that there was no evidence to support forgery charges.
The court heard that part of the evidence was obtained in a city hotel and at Sudi’s former Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) office which, the magistrate said, raised issues of credibility.
Magistrate Kombo noted that when the investigators took evidence from Sudi from the hotel in Nairobi and KICC, no caution was given to him that he was recording a statement.
“There is no indication that the accused person was made aware of or represented by a counsel that he was recording a statement,” he said.
He said the investigating officer did not record a cautionary statement and the two statements recorded from Sudi outside EACC offices were statements under inquiry.
“The State cannot therefore use the statement against Sudi in a trial. That would be possible if the accused was cautioned to maintain or retract the statement upon commencement of charges against him,” he ruled.
Kombo also blamed the EACC investigators of trying to interrogate and record a statement from Sudi at a city hotel.
“The fact remains that the investigators purported to conduct official commission’s duties in a hotel is illegal. The interrogation of a suspect at a venue of their choice is dubious,” Kombo stated.
