HASHISH HAUL WAS NEVER DESTROYED, TRIBUNAL TOLD

Nairobi

The 4.7 tonnes of hashish impounded from a house in Nyali, Mombasa, in
2000 was never destroyed, a tribunal investigating the conduct of
suspended Court of Appeal judge Philip Waki heard yesterday.

Instead, what was destroyed under the supervision of former Nairobi
Chief Magistrate Boaz Olao was heroin. The number of sacks destroyed
was also less than those indicated in the Occurrence Book at Bamburi
Police Station.

Olao, who is now Thika Chief Magistrate, had convicted Mohamed Ghani
Taib and another of trafficking in hashish but freed two sons of the
late drug baron Ibrahim Akasha, Kamaldin and Baktash for lack of evidence.

Olao was being cross-examined by Lead Counsel Mbuthi Gathenji at the
tribunal probing suspended Court of Appeal judges and chaired by
retired Appeal Court judge Akilano Akiwumi.

Taib recently claimed that Olao received a Sh4 million bribe from
Baktash on May 27, 2000, to influence the outcome of the drug
trafficking case before him at the Nairobi High Court.

Taib alleged that Olao was with Waki, who received the money at the
Kentmere Club in Limuru. He said Waki put the money in a red Peugeot
car parked at the club parking bay. Olao has since confirmed to the
tribunal that he has a car of similar make and colour.

Court documents relating to cases against Taib, the two Akasha sons
and six others indicated that a Government analyst had identified the
drugs as hashish.

Yet in the same files, Taib was sentenced to serve 15 years in prison
for trafficking in heroin.

"If what was destroyed was heroin, the charge is not sustainable if
the substance was hashish," Gathenji said.

Gathenji also read from the Olao's ruling that while Kamaldin was
freed from remand custody in Malindi on March 15, 2000, when the
trafficking took place, the same did not apply for Taib who was in
police custody in Mombasa on the same day.

The State Counsel also produced excerpts from the files showing that
Olao had allowed a person with a different name to withdraw Taib's
Sh10 million bond which he (Taib) and others had been given on May 19,
2000.

Taib had earlier testified that the bond was withdrawn after he
quarrelled with Baktash and Kamaldin over allegations that he had
caused their father's death after telling police of the whereabouts of
the 4.7 tonnes of hashish.

Instead of Maurice Mutugi Githenji, who had stood surety for Taib,
Olao allowed Wallace Muturi Githinji to withdraw the bond.

Taib had testified that it was the Akasha's who influenced the
withdrawal of the bond after the quarrel during the burial ceremony of
Ibrahim Akasha at Nyali in Mombasa.

Githenji also drew the attention of the Akiwumi tribunal that there
was no evidence in the court documents showing that sureties for
Baktash were examined.