EACC, police to Khaminwa: ‘It was not us’

EACC has distanced itself from the allegations hours after Senior Counsel made the claims to the media. [File, Standard.]

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has distanced itself from allegations of harassing participants in the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) Appeal case.

EACC spoke barely a day since one of the lawyers, John Khaminwa, claimed his life was in danger after two men posing as state officers visited his Kileleshwa Offices on Saturday, July 3, afternoon.

The Appellate court heard the constitutional amendment appeal case between June 28 and July 2.

“We wish to notify the public that we (EACC) did not conduct any operation yesterday and media reports suggesting that EACC visited the offices of John Khaminwa Senior Counsel are unfounded,” The Anti-graft body tweeted on Sunday morning.

Khaminwa, a Senior Counsel, had claimed the duo identified themselves as police officers from the EACC.

"They claimed to offer protection to me. But I got suspicious when they made reference to some succession case I handled many years ago. The two did not impress me as state officeholders," said Khaminwa.

At the same time, Nairobi area police commander Augustine Nthumbi has echoed EACC's sentiments saying there were no officers deployed to Khaminwa's offices.

"No police officer was sent to raid Khaminwa's offices on Saturday, but from the allegations, we have launched investigations into his claims," Nthumbi told members of the Press on Sunday.

"Why would we be looking for Khaminwa? As we know him, he is a law-abiding citizen and we as the police have no reason to look for him," he went on.

The 84-year-old made the claims a day after his submissions at the Court of Appeal against the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) appeal case.

The senior counsel alleged that there was a possibility of attempts to intimidate him over his submission at the court of appeal during the hearing of the case of the constitutional amendments.

 

EACC wishes to notify the public that it did not conduct any operation yesterday and media reports suggesting that EACC visited the offices of John Khaminwa Senior Counsel are unfounded.

— EACC (@EACCKenya) July 4, 2021

 

"I told them off because I got the impression they were either trying to see whether they could make use of what happened yesterday in court or they had been sent by someone in a superior office to intimidate me." He remarked.

He called on authorities to offer security to lawyers involved in the BBI appeal case.

"It has always been a problem when one is handling extremely sensitive cases in this country. We need cooperation and assistance from the inspector general of police to ensure that all the lawyers who are in this case are given proper protection and nothing embarrassing happens to them," he added.