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Monday, June 30, 2025
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Accusations Dominate ICC Hearing

Accusations Dominate ICC Hearing
Accusations Dominate ICC Hearing

Kenya:ย It was a stormy session at the International Criminal Court (ICC) asย the prosecution locked horns with the Kenya Government over allegedย failure to co-operate in the trial of President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The Office of the Prosecution accused the Government of failing toย provide substantial, personal information touching on President Kenyatta, including his business and political associates.

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But the Government, led by Attorney General Githu Muigai, rebutted,ย accusing the prosecution of providing vague requests that could not beย acted on.

The highlight was claims by the Government that it could not trace anyย records indicating that Uhuru owned any land or companies inย Kenya. It also could not trace any telephone lines or data owned by orย linked to the President in 2007 and 2008.

Uhuru’s defence team members, who were only sideline participants in theย proceedings, however railed at the prosecution, accusing it of puttingย obstacles for the Government to sustain a dead case.

The drama unfolded at a status conference in The Hague, Netherlands, part of which was held in private and two hours of it in open session.

The morning session proceeded without involvement by the defenceย as the Prosecution and the Government briefed the court on theย co-operation.

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The prosecution requested information classified under eight specificย categories. These are records of companies owned by or associated withย President Kenyatta between June 2007 and December 2010, land records,ย income tax returns, motor vehicles, bank records, foreign exchange,ย telephone records and intelligence records.

The information had been sought to determine whether the prosecutionย could proceed or terminate the case after conceding in February thatย they had no other tangible evidence against Uhuru.

But the prosecution raised issue with the material and answers givenย by the Government in each of the categories.

In a letter to the court, Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu explained thatย her ministry was in the process of reorganising its operations and hadย discovered that 1.3 million files were lost, misplaced or misfiled.

She said they had not located any information on land owned by President Kenyatta.

“We have no records at the moment that the person owns land,” theย minister explained.

The prosecution had further asked for Uhuru’s income tax and VATย records. The Government responded that there were no VAT records on himย but provided his income and tax return records since 1992, which theย prosecution said was not the requested information.

The court heard that before 2010, only four vehicles were registered in Uhuru’s name.

Source-standardmedia.co.ke

Accusations Dominate ICC Hearing

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