In 2022, the High Court sentenced the legislator to 67 years in prison or pay a Ksh1 billion fine after it dismissed the MP’s appeal challenging the decision.
Sirisia Member of Parliament John Waluke on Friday, October 11 breathed a sigh of relief after the Court of Appeal overturned the High Court’s decision convicting him to 67 years in prison in a multi-million shilling corruption case.
In 2022, the High Court sentenced the legislator to 67 years in prison or pay a Ksh1 billion fine after it dismissed the MP’s appeal challenging the decision.
High Court Judge Esther Maina on Thursday, October 6 dismissed his appeal whereby he contested a ruling where he was sentenced over a Ksh313 million corruption case involving the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB).
However, Court of Appeal Judge Asike Makhandia ruled that the offence of presenting false documents, even if established, did not necessarily imply that the other offences had also been committed.
An image of the Court of Appeal buildings. /FILE
The judge went on to deem the High Court’s ruling as the worst form of abuse of the criminal process, noting that it was undertaken for ulterior motives.
“It is also quite apparent that the offense of uttering false documents, even if had been proved, did not automatically mean that the remaining offenses had been committed as the learned judge concluded,” the Judge said.
“It does appear to us that after NCPB failed all the way to impugn the award in civil proceedings turn to EACC to invoke criminal functions against the appellants to achieve the very purpose it had been denied in civil proceedings going by the import of the sentences imposed.”
Judge Makhandia found that the MP and his co-accused made a case that warranted intervention from the Appellate Court.
“Ultimately, we are satisfied that the appellants have made a case that warrants us to allow their appeal. The appeal is accordingly allowed, and the convictions and sentences imposed on the appellants are set aside. The appellants shall forthwith be set at liberty and less otherwise lawfully held,” the ruling concluded.
The lawmaker was released on Friday, November 18, 2022, on a Ksh10 million cash bail. On October 7, 2022, Waluke surrendered himself to the police as he was set to begin his jail term. He indicated that he was moving to the Court of Appeal to have his conviction- upheld by the High Court- overturned.
The lawmaker was also facing the likelihood of losing his seat in the event he failed to pay the amount as ordered by High Court Judge Esther Maina on October 6, 2022.
Judge Maina noted that the charges against him and his co-accused Grace Wakhungu before Chief Magistrate Elizabeth Juma proved beyond a reasonable doubt. “The sentences were not excessive. They are within the law. Conviction and sentences affirmed,” she ruled.
Initially, Chief Magistrate Elizabeth Juma sentenced Waluke to 67 years and his co-accused Grace Wakhungu to 69 years after they were found guilty of fraud practices.
They were the last surviving directors of Erad Supplies and General Contractors – a company which was put on the spot over a shady deal involving the supply of white maize to NCPB, leading to a loss of Ksh297 million within the parastatal.
The company was also accused of acquiring property worth Ksh13.3 million through fraudulent means.
