Supreme Court Allows DPP to Extradite Chris Okemo and Samuel Gichuru to Jersey

The Supreme Court has given the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji the greenlight to start extradition proceedings against former Kenya Power CEO Samuel Gichuru and former Energy minister Chris Okemo.

Justices Martha Koome, Mohammed Ibrahim, Smokin Wanjala, and Njoki Ndung’u on Friday unanimously ruled that extradition proceedings are criminal in nature and that the legal authority to commence extradition proceedings lies with the DPP and not the office of the Attorney-General.

Gichuru and Okemo are wanted in the United Kingdom’s Jersey Island to face charges of graft and money laundering. It is alleged that the two defrauded Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) of millions of shillings between 1998 and 2002 and stashed the proceeds in offshore accounts in Jersey.

The Royal Court of Jersey said that Gichuru and Okemo received bribes in hard cash amounting to Sh997 million but only Sh526 million was recovered after the rest was wired back to Kenya. 

Okemo is reported to have used Windward Trading in Jersey as the company that would receive bribes disguised as commissions or consultancy fees from entities that won contracts from Kenya Power. Walbrook Trustees (Jersey) Ltd were the administrators of Windward and would send back the money to Okemo.

Okemo served in President Moi’s government as the Minister for Energy between 1999 and 2001 while Gichuru was the MD of KPLC between November 1984 and February 2013.