Anti-Corruption Court chief magistrate Lawrence Mugambi on Friday formally stopped the trial of Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu.
The magistrate said he had perused the amended order and is satisfied that it relates to the case before the court. There was a mix-up in case numbers, which was to be rectified.
Mugambi said the proceedings will rest at the point they had reached and that the status quo of all matters relating to the case should be maintained.
The magistrate directed the case to be mentioned on October 22, two weeks after the matter shall be mentioned at the High court on October 9.
The DPP, through state counsel Alexander Muteti, said the proceedings before the court, though a matter of acute sensitivity, should not be taken as an affront to the independence of the Judiciary.
“We respect the court. We respect rights of individual persons and as an office we do expect that just like the accused persons do expect fair trial,” he said.
He added that the proceedings have been brought against the two individuals.
On Wednesday, the magistrate declined to stop the proceedings saying the file number quoted on the stay order differed with the one on the case before him.
He referred the defence counsel back to the high court to rectify the clerical error.
Mwilu was arraigned on corruption-related charges, including abuse of office, failure to pay stamp tax, improperly obtaining Sh12 million from the troubled Imperial Bank, obtaining security by false pretence, among other counts.
She did not take a plea and obtained a court order suspending the criminal trial until October 9, “pending determination of weighty issues.”
The DCJ has sensationally claimed in an affidavit that there have been efforts to remove her from office after she joined in nullifying President Uhuru Kenyatta’s election in September last year.
