Second witness tells court Gicheru gave him Sh0.5 million
The second prosecution witness in the trial of lawyer Paul Gicheru at the International Criminal Court took to the stand yesterday and recounted how he was bribed not to testify in the Deputy President William Ruto case.
The witness who is identified as P0341 largely testified in camera in the case where Gicheru is facing eight counts relating to corruptly influencing witnesses regarding cases from the situation in Kenya.
In the few times he testified publicly, the witness told the court that Gicheru gave him Sh500,000 during their first meeting and told him to sign a contract indicating his withdrawal as a witness in the ICC. Ruto and Sang were both charged with fomenting ethnic violence after a disputed 2007 election in which 1,200 people died.
“Your honour before the money, we had signed a contract which had been prepared somewhere else by a different advocate and I was told to sign the agreement that I had withdrawn myself as a witness, it was prepared separately, I was only asked to sign the contract or the agreement..,” he told the court.
The witness claimed during the first meeting with Gicheru, another person referred to as person number 30 had given him Sh10,000 for lunch and transport. The witness told the court that he had requested for Sh5 million but Gicheru started the negotiations with Sh500,000. “I started with a higher amount and they started with Sh500,000, so it was about negotiations,” he told the court.
