A senior official at the Kenya Ports Authority and a Mombasa trader have denied corruption charges after a court declined to stop their prosecution, clearing the way for the case to proceed to full trial.
In a statement from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Chief Magistrate Alex Ithuku dismissed an application by Mark Oriema Gor, Simon Otieno Alloo and Alootek Systems Limited who had sought to block the criminal case against them.
The court found that while the matter had aspects of a business dispute, there was no strong basis to prevent the State from moving ahead with the charges.
In the ruling, the magistrate held that the presence of a related civil case did not bar the prosecution from pursuing criminal proceedings.
The accused had argued that the Director of Public Prosecutions had not been informed about the ongoing civil suit and that such information could have affected the decision to charge them.
The prosecution, through Principal Prosecution Counsel Alex Ndiema, opposed the bid to halt the case, maintaining that civil litigation does not stop the State from bringing criminal charges where there is evidence of wrongdoing.
After their application was rejected, the three were formally charged and each pleaded not guilty.
Oriema Gor, who works as Mechanical Superintendent at KPA and sits on the authority’s tender committees, is facing a charge of conflict of interest.
Prosecutors claim that he did not disclose a private interest in tender number KPA/097/2017-2018/CCE involving the supply and maintenance of two Copco compressors.
Alloo and his firm, Alootek Systems Limited, have been charged with fraudulent practices. The prosecution alleges that they interfered with the procurement process and falsely presented Alloo as the sole distributor of Atlas Copco equipment in Kenya to win the tender.
The court granted each accused person Sh100,000 cash bail.
The prosecution has been directed to supply witness statements and other evidence before the pre-trial, which is set for March 18, 2026.
