A legal battle has emerged around the case involving the Akasha brothers and prominent Kenyans who were involved in drug trafficking. As it is, the Kenyan suspects may be in hot soup if the government agrees to cooperate with US authorities to cut short the protracted legal process that ordinarily could see the extradition take years in the corridors of justice.
The cooperation is to have authorities arrest the suspects, bundle them into a plane and send them out of the country to face justice in the United States.
However, lawyers have now come out in protest and said that extradition must officially be sanctioned by the High Court arguing that anything less would amount to a travesty of justice.
“For another country to come and intrude on the sovereignty of another state without that state having its processes followed would be a violation of rights of the suspect,” said Senior Counsel Tom Ojienda.
The lawyers also disagreed with the manner in which the Akasha brothers were extradited to the US.
“The Akasha’s were snatched from this country without following due process. That was an illegality on its own. Getting a Kenyan citizen out of the country without following due process is the highest degree of lawlessness,” Danstan Omari said.
Omari also claimed that compelling evidence must be produced in court before a suspect is extradited adding that such a decision can be challenged right up to the Supreme Court. This means that extradition is a protracted process that can take years.
“We must appreciate the wheels of justice grind slowly. The fact that it takes time through the legal process is no justification to arbitrarily and with a lot of impunity enter Kenyan territory, pick Kenyans and take them to US,” Omari said.
Case in point, former Finance Minister Chris Okemo and former Kenya Power boss Samuel Gichuru who were wanted in New Jersey to face corruption and money laundering charges have never been extradited to New Jersey since the request was made in 2011.
In March, the Court of Appeal quashed extradition proceedings against the two but the Director of Public Prosecutions appealed the decision at the Supreme Court where the case is pending.
Omari therefore said that extradition proceedings must be treated like any other cases, some of which have been pending in the courts for the past 15 years.
On October 26, the Akashas pleaded guilty to the charges of distribution of heroin and methamphetamine and conspiracy to import the drugs into the United States. They further spilled the beans in the whole saga and implicated top prominent leaders who are said to have had a hand in the trafficking of drugs.
The list of shame includes a sitting MP, a former governor, current and former top police bosses and influential businessmen. A Cabinet secretary, two judges and a Chief Administrative Secretary are also among those being sought by the US over links to the notorious Akasha drugs family.
Most of the suspects are said to be accomplices in the narcotics underworld while others, especially the judges and top police officers, pocketed hefty bribes to aid to protect the drugs business and obstruct justice.
Do you agree with the lawyers or do you think the criminals should be charged abroad?