Eldoret North MP Wiiliam Ruto (left) and his lawyer Martin ole Kamwaro (right) at the High Court April 12, 2011. Mr Ruto was cleared of graft charges involving the irregular allocation of land in Ngong Forest. PAUL WAWERU
Eldoret North MP Wiiliam Ruto has been cleared of corruption charges involving the irregular allocation of Kenya Pipeline land in Ngong Forest ten years ago.
Also acquitted were his co-accused Baringo Central MP Sammy Mwaita and Joshua Kulei, who was an aide to former president Moi.
Mr Ruto was freed due to lack of evidence linking him to the allegations of obtaining Sh9,916,835 from KPC in September 2001.
Chief magistrate Gilbert Mutembei said the evidence adduced to court by the prosecution was not sufficient to prove that the accused actually received the money from the parastatal.
Immediately after the ruling, the packed court room, including ten MPs who accompanied Mr Ruto broke into song and dance, saying truth has finally prevailed.
Mr Ruto, who was suspended from Cabinet to fight the fraud case last October, said after the ruling that his long standing opinion that the case was a political witchhunt had been proved right.
“This was not a civil case against me but political persecution. Finally the truth has come out because the investigations carried out by the CID and anti-corruption officers have found that I am an innocent man,” said Mr Ruto.
Asked about if he will accept reappointment to the Cabinet, the Eldoret North MP was non-committal, saying he could not answer the question at the time.
He said that coming out victorious in the case has given him faith that he will be cleared of all the other cases against him, specifically the case against him at the International Criminal Court.
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