The prosecution of Controller of Budget (CoB) Margaret Nyakang’o has been put on hold until May 2024 by orders given by the High Court.

Judge Chacha Mwita granted a conservatory, halting Nyakang’o’s trial, in response to a court petition filed by Mugirango MP Stephen Mogaka.

“A conservatory order is hereby issued suspending the prosecution of Margaret Nyakang’o in the Mombasa chief magistrates court case number E1674 of 2023 until May 21, 2024,” Justice Mwita ordered.

The MP has been directed by the judge to serve the petition to the DPP and DCI and submit their reply within a 14-day period.

The directives follow MP Mogaka’s complaint, in which he claimed that Nyakang’o’s prosecution was a plot to force her from office.

“The arrest and arraignment before the court was conducted under orchestrated publicity and fanfare and wholly violating the Nyakang’o’s right to dignity and wholly intent on embarrassing, vexing, harassing and putting her to shame,” Mogaka told the Judge.

The lawmaker claims that Nyakangó was charged only a few days after she came forward with information about a number of issues, including the rising debt ceiling and the use of borrowed funds for salary rather than development.

He continues by saying that the Controller of Budget has recently produced a number of reports on the National and County governments’ execution of their budgets, some of which have been critical and have indicated the theft of public funds.

“The arrest comes in the wake of her public exposure with regards to the fiscal improprieties within the running of various state arm and agencies and is a glaring manifestation of a knee-jerk reaction accentuated by ulterior motives, malice and an unprecedented abuse of process,” Mogaka said.

The MP claims that Nyakang’o’s claimed offenses of fraud, forgery, and running a sacco without a license, which stretch back to 2016, lack sufficient factual support to warrant criminal prosecution and are instead solely based on a civil case that has already been decided in a civil arena.

The Member of Parliament contended that the actions taken by the DPP and DCI to look into and accuse the Controller of Budget of a criminal offense resulting from a civil lawsuit were a clear misuse of the legal system and a breach of the independent office’s authority.

The MP is now requesting that the case be dismissed and that the DPP and DCI’s choice to prosecute her be ruled unlawful in his appeal.