A-G DISMISSES CLAIMS OVER DRUG BARON'S CASH

The attorney-general has denied a claim that drug dealer Ibrahim
Abdalla Akasha paid school fees for his children.

Mr Amos Wako described the allegation, by a witness in the tribunal
investigating Appeal Court judge Philip Waki, as untrue and baseless.

In a letter to the tribunal's chairman, Mr Justice Akilano Akiwumi,
the AG also denied having protected Mr Akasha against criminal
prosecutions.

The letter was received and stamped by the tribunal on April 28, a day
after Mombasa businessman Khurshid Ahmed Butt made the allegation.

It was yet to be tabled in proceedings.

Mr Butt said the drug dealer had told him he also paid school fees for
Chief Justice Bernard Chunga's children and those of Coast police boss
James Munyua.

Mr Justice Waki is being investigated on alleged misconduct while he
served as High Court judge in Mombasa and Nairobi. Mr Butt, the sole
complainant in the inquiry, claims the judge was also close to the
Akasha family and other personalities who influenced the judiciary.

In the three-page letter signed by deputy chief State counsel Horace
Okumu, Mr Wako gave details of two criminal cases filed against Mr
Akasha and his family members in Mombasa and Nairobi, dating back to
1995.

They involve drug trafficking and an assault on Mr Butt in June, 1994.
The AG narrated how the cases were investigated and prosecuted. He
said the assault case was first prosecuted in 1995 in the Mombasa
chief magistrate's court and later transferred to Nairobi.

It was first prosecuted by assistant deputy public prosecutor Alex
Etyang, who was later appointed High Court judge. Mr Chunga, then the
deputy public prosecutor, took over the matter and, in January, 1997,
handed it over to his new assistant, Mr Momanyi Bwonwonga.

The AG recalled that before handing over, Mr Chunga had also
complained of Mr Butt's attitude and claims that all those who handled
the matter were corrupt.

Yesterday, Mr Butt claimed Mr Justice Waki was appointed to the High
Court by influence from a veteran Ukambani politician, the late Mr
Mulu Mutisya, and his close friend lawyer, Mr Mutula Kilonzo, who is
leading the defence team.

Earlier, another witness, Mr Maurice Kioko, said he escorted court
clerk Ephantus Muhoro up to the office of Mr Justice Waki's secretary
in 1998 when the latter was going to give the judge an envelope
containing money.