Milimani law court/FILEA Nairobi court has allowed the withdrawal of fraud charges against former Social Health Authority (SHA) official Elijah Wachira and co-accused Robert Ingarisa.
Principal Magistrate Daisy Mutai directed the withdrawal of charges in a criminal case against the two following an oral application by the prosecution.
“That in view of the reasons advanced, the charges as against the 4th (Elijah Wachira) and 5th (Robert Ingarisa) accused persons are hereby withdrawn under section 87(a) of the Criminal Procedure Code,” the court order states.
The court also directed that cash bail deposited by the two persons be released to the people who had paid it.
The duo, alongside three others, were facing charges of allegedly misappropriating more than Sh17 million in SHA funds between October 2024 and May 20, 2025, at the authority’s headquarters in Nairobi.
The charges for the two were withdrawn following an application by the prosecution
According to documents seen by The Star, Wachira had previously asked the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to review the charges against him, arguing that he had left SHA before the transactions forming the basis of the case took place.
In a letter to the DPP, his lawyers said their client left the institution on November 12, 2024, and that the transactions in question occurred after he had departed.
The lawyers argued that it was unreasonable to charge him over transactions allegedly conducted when he was no longer affiliated with the authority.
They also contended that Wachira had not been adversely mentioned in the 2,235 pages of documents supplied by the investigating officer.
“After thoroughly reviewing the documentation provided by the Investigating Officer, it is important to highlight that our client left the Social Health Authority (SHA) on 12th November 2024,” the lawyers wrote.
They asked the DPP to review the charges under Article 157(6)(c) of the Constitution and the 2019 Guidelines on the Decision to Charge, saying there was a basis for considering dropping the case against their client.
The letter indicated that the defence requested the review considered ahead of a scheduled court appearance earlier in March this year.
