Former Kasarani Member of Parliament John Njoroge Chege has suffered a huge blow after the High Court dismissed his appeal against his conviction and sentencing in the Sh 100,000 fraud case.
Justice Esther Maina dismissed the appeal by Chege who was disputing the sentence of a fine of Sh 1.3 million or serve one year in jail for want of prosecution.
While dismissing the case, the judge stated that the court is not a parking lot for cases that are filed but never prosecuted. Justice Maina dropped the case when both Chege and his counsel failed to appear in court for the hearing of the matter.
“The appeal will be denied for lack of prosecution,” stated Justice Maina.
Chege had filed an appeal with the High Court, requesting that the magistrate’s verdict to that found him guilty of collecting a bribe of Sh 100,000 be reversed.
According to the charge sheet, on July 13, 2013, the former MP asked Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi for Sh100,000 as a bribe in order to enable payment of Sh3.3 million for a finished Baba Dogo Secondary School tuition block.
Chege was initially arraigned in 2013 before the Anti-Corruption Court in Milimani while still in office, becoming the first legislator in the 11th Parliament to be prosecuted over corruption charges.
While giving his testimony in court, Abdullahi stated that he reported the matter to EACC where he was given treated money of Sh100,000 and a tape recorder.
He then, together with the EACC officials, recorded the transaction between him.
