Ex-Samburu Governor Lenolkulal Contests Conviction In Ksh84M Corruption Case
Lenolkulal faulted the trial magistrate for not fully analysing the evidence presented by the prosecution.
Marvin Chege 
Former Samburu Governor Moses Kasaine Lenolkulal has filed an appeal against his conviction and sentencing in a Ksh83.4 million corruption case.
The appeal is challenging the High Court's decision to sentence him to eight years in prison with an alternative payment of Ksh84 million after he was found guilty of engaging in corruption.
In his suit papers, Lenolkulal faulted the trial magistrate for not fully analysing the evidence presented by the prosecution.
Lenolkulal in his petition, called on the Appellate Court to consider setting aside the case for a lower court to hear and rule on the matter.
Former Samburu Governor Moses Lenolkulal in a Milimani court on August 28, 2024. /ODPP
"The learned Magistrate erred in fact and law by failing to fully analyze and evaluate the evidence adduced and thereby arrived at the wrong conclusions of fact," Lenolkulal argued.
"The learned Magistrate erred in law by failing to appreciate the meaning and effect in law of the Appellant’s Declaration of Conflict of Interest dated 23rd April 2013," he added.
Lenolkulal claimed the sentence imposed on him was unlawful and thus the need for the Court of Appeal to urgently expedite the matter.
This comes days after he was granted bail by the High Court in Kibera alongside his co-accused, Hesbon Jack Wachira Ndathi.
The ruling was delivered by Presiding Judge Diana Kavedza, who certified the application as urgent after the two appellants had moved the court through a Chamber Summons dated August 29, 2024, seeking to be heard after the conviction.
The Anti-Corruption Court sitting in Milimani on Thursday, August 29 found the former county boss and 10 others guilty of various counts, including abuse of office, conflict of interest, and unlawful acquisition of public property, and fined him Ksh85 million, failure to which he would serve eight years in jail.
The others found guilty included his former proxy, Ndathi, whose fine was fixed at Ksh83 million or an eight-year jail term in default. The other convicts, who were officials at the county, received lighter penalties, with each ordered to pay Ksh700,000 in fines or serve four-year jail terms in default.
They included the former county secretary, six chief officers of Finance, Environment, Agriculture, Transport, Land, and Gender, a deputy director of Education, and the Head of Supply Chain Management.
The sentences were delivered by Chief Magistrate Thomas Nzioki. On Friday, Judge Kavedza qualified the application for bail as reasonable, saying “The applicants do not pose any risk to society or themselves since the offences in question did not involve personal violence.”
The court however granted bail to both Lenolkulal and Ndathi, setting the bond at Ksh10 million each, with one surety of a similar amount.
“In exercising my discretion… the 1st and 2nd applicants are each admitted to a bond of Sh10,000,000 with one surety of a similar amount,” she said, adding “I do not wish to comment on the legality of the sentence at this stage as it will prejudice the outcome of the main appeal. I leave the arguments of that ground for the main appeal."
