Deputy Chief Justice gets her day in court

Kenya’s Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu’s petition contesting her prosecution on graft charges will be heard from 6 December. CapitalFM reports that a five-judge bench comprising Hellen Omondi, Mumbai Ngugi, William Musyoka, Francis Tuiyot and Chacha Mwita allowed the various parties to file their arguments in court within a week. Should the Attorney-General, Director of Public Prosecutions and Mwilu fail to concur on the underlying issues, the court said it would intervene. Meanwhile, the Kenyan branch of the International Commission of Jurists, Federation of Women Lawyers, and lawyer Adrian Kamotho Njenga have also been given seven days to file grounds upon which they want to be included in the proceedings as interested parties. Legalbrief reports that Mwilu is accused of transferring $354 000 to the wife of former Nairobi lawmaker Alex Ole Magelo and channelling another $98 000 to Blue Nile East Africa, a firm she had business dealings with.