Former NTV Anchor, Police Officer Testify in Sonko’s Bribery Trial
The former NTV news anchor in charge of the legal affairs beat told the court the news article is still available at the company's YouTube channel for the last six years.
A former Nation Media Group (NMG) journalist, Kenneth Mijungu, has testified at a Milimani anti-corruption court in defence of former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko in the ongoing case.
Mijungu, a former news anchor with NMG, confirmed before the trial magistrate Charles Ondieki that NTV broadcasted a news article where businessman Praful Kumar Premchand Savla was arraigned at a Mombasa court and charged with giving the former governor a bribe.
Mijungu told the court that NTV received the footage recorded from Mombasa Law Courts in respect of Savla, who was accused of giving a bribe to Sonko at his Kanamai residence within Kilifi county.
The former NTV news anchor in charge of the legal affairs beat told the court the news article is still available at the company’s YouTube channel for the last six years.
“The video is still in the YouTube channel of the company for the last six years where the clip since it is accessible to the public,” Mijungu told the court.
Mijungu said NMG presents facts as they are, and so was the case of Savla.
He stated that the charges were that on August 20, 2018, at Kanamai in Kikambala, within Kilifi County, being the proprietor of Grand Manor in Nairobi, he offered a financial advantage of Ksh 5 million to Sonko when he was the Governor of Nairobi to facilitate the approval of construction on a parcel of land LR 91/239.
At the same time, Assistant Superintendent of police Beneutychus Wanjohi, who also testified in favor of Sonko, presented a transcription of the conversation between the former governor and JamboPay proprietor Danson Muchemi where the businessman was offering a bribe of Ksh 5 million a day if he was allowed to continue with the revenue collection for the county.
The officer informed the court that they had given Sonko a recording device to record their conversation with Muchemi. He produced before the court transcripted documents and the electronic certificate of the same, where he further made the recording on a flash disk as electronic evidence.
Wanjohi also confirmed to the court that he transcribed the conversation word for word without changing the language used.
The defense hearing will proceed on July 28, 2025.
