Court News

A Man has been charged at Milimani Law Courts  with Sh 12 million  land transaction fraud in Garissa Municipality.

The  accused Abdi Yusuf Mohammed has appeared before magistrate Benmark Ekhuni and denied the charged.

He is being accused if obtaining the money by falsely claiming he was in a position to sell her land located in Garissa County.

Mohammed  was arrested over the weekend, following reports that he was planning to sell a prime piece of land while falsely claiming ownership.

Preliminary investigations indicate that he received multiple payments through his personal bank account between June 29 and November 21, 2023.

The victim realized she was being duped after conducting a search at the Garissa Lands Registry, which revealed that the land was registered under a different individual.

“The green card confirmed that the rightful owner has held the title since its original government allocation. Furthermore, the documents Yusuf provided to claim ownership of the land were found to be fraudulent,” the DCI stated.

Detectives tracked the suspect to his hideout in Eastleigh, where he was arrested and taken to Kilimani Police Station.

A senior health officer in Nairobi county who was found soliciting a bribe of Ksh 400,000 has defended himself urging the court to auquit him since the evidence produced had discrepancies.

Appearing before the Milimani Anti-Corruption magistrate Celesa Okore, Daniel Omido, a health administrator officer at Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) told the magistrate that the evidence produced before her is not enough for his conviction,

“Your honour I urge this court to consider the discrepancies in the evidence produced in this court not enough and acquit me, I humbly pray,’ Omido told the magistrate.

First, Omido stated that the evidence of two witnesses on the money he was charged to have solicited differed one saying that the money was in three bunches and the other in two bunches,

“This difference fails to prove this case,” he said.

Further, on the issue of the said money, he added that no forensic report was produced connecting him with the money alleged to be found in his possession,

“Your honour the witness could have examined the said money forensically to prove whether my finger prints appeared on the same,” he defended himself.

He also pointed out that the prosecution failed to produce a video or photos as evidence to prove he had received the money.

About the video that was played during the hearing, he (Omido) stated that there was no statement recorded about the same or that of the person he was alleged have talking to.

Omido was arrested and charged with soliciting bribe from a citizen. The complainant alleged that his company Quality Plus Laboratory and Consultancy Services was awarded a two-year food handlers examination contract by the Nairobi County Government under Nairobi Metropolitan Services from May 2022 to May 2024.

The purpose was to test food handlers in Hotels and eateries before issuance of certificates by the Nairobi county Government Health Department in Dagorreti North, Kasarani and Kamkunji sub-Counties,” the statement read in part.

The Commission conducted an operation and the suspect was arrested at Uchumi House Building after he corruptly received part of the demanded bribe amounting to Ksh 200,000. The Commission recovered the money from the Suspect’s shopping bag.

Daniel Omido, a senior officer at NMS is said to have demanded a bribe of Ksh 400,000 in order to approve online applications relating to testing and issuing certificates to food handlers within the Nairobi Metropolitan Area.

Kenya Literature Bureau (KLB) has suffered a blow after the Court of Appeal declined to stop the execution of judgement that quashed the  implementation of its new Human Resource (HR) structure.

Judge F.Ochieng,Weldon Korir and Joel Ngugi ruled that the application filed by KLB has not established how the intended appeal will be rendered nugatory and dismissed it.

“We therefore , find that the application before this court has not established how the intended appeal will be rendered nugatory.consequently the notice of motion dated December 4,2024 lacks merit and is for dismissal ,we therefore dismiss it,”Reads parts of the judgement.

KLB had filed an application seeking to stay the execution of the judgement by Judge Hellen Wasilwa on the above issue pending the hearing and determination of its intended appeal.

They also wanted to stay any proceedings in the matter before a trial court. The application was strongly opposed by Catherine Wanjiru Kerubo through her lawyer Henry Kurauka.

Public Service Commission also opposed it.

KLB had argued that by quashing the acting managerial appointments ,which were made by according to the approved Human Resources Instruments,the judgement created a vacuum that hinders their operations.

KLB highlighted its critical role in the publication and supply of learning materials to schools,arguing that disruption of its operations would severely impact revenue  and operations including the budgetary and contractual commitments based on the new structure.

It argued that the temporary appointees have already assumed their roles, accepted new job descriptions and set performance targets, and disrupting this arrangements risks halting its operations.

“It is in the interest of justice, fairness and,and the public to allow  the implementation of duly approved HR Instruments to continue undisturbed, hence necessitating the grant of stay,”added KLB.

Lawyer Kurauka on the other hand opposed that appeal saying that KLB should not be allowed to continue breaching Articles 10 and 234 of the constitution and the contested judgement contained valid orders that protect the public interest.

“KLB has not demonstrated how the new organizational and grading structures would improve its performance and the public stands to suffer if the execution of the judgement is stayed,”added Kurauka on behalf of Wanjiru.

PSC on its opposition said the appointments by KLB should align with approved HR instruments of June 28,2024, and section 34 of the Public Service Commission Act.

Wanjiru had filed a petition last year challenging the HR and the instruments saying it allegedly lacks the backing of the Public Service Commission (PSC)

She claims in her court papers that KLB staff weren’t involved in the formulation and development of the new HR structures being used to appoint staff in an acting capacity.

“The structures were not subjected to public participation, consultation and views of staff before theirimplementation,” she says.

Based on the new HR instruments, Catherine argues that the company’s board of directors approved the appointment of junior staff to act in senior positions and ignored the qualifications and seniority of other members of staff.

She seeks to have the court prevent the Bureau and one Victor Lomaria from implementing its new HR instruments and appointments contained in a memo dated June 28.

Justice Anna Mwaure certified the matter as urgent and directed the matter be heard on June 9.

According to the court documents, only the PSC has powers to approve, review and make recommendations about human resource policies and practices of employees.

The State Corporations Act she says does not confer SCAC any responsibility to approve or develop HR Instruments.

“It’s the constitutional mandate of PSC to develop HR instruments in state corporations and public universities,” read the documents in part.

Njuguna goes ahead to state that there was no inclusivity in the development of the bureau’s HR Instruments 2024.

She said the HR instruments which contain the organizational structure did not undergo any stakeholder involvement including the unions, non-management employees, management staff members, senior management and the board of management.

A middle aged woman has been charged at a Nairobi court with trafficking 30 kilograms and 303 rolls of bhang contrary to Section 4 (a) of narcotic drugs and psychotrophic substance control.

A Nairobi court has detained a Junior Secondary School JSS teacher until Friday when it will deliver the ruling on whether to release him on bond or not following the allegations of identity theft and personation.

A Company director has been charged with Sh 30 Million investiment fraud.

Mineral Masters Company (MMC) Limited has suffered a setback after the High Court nodded the auctioning of their parcel of land after defaulting on a loan of Ksh 15 million by Simple Pay Capital Limited (SPCL).

Sitting at  the High Court Milimani Commercial Tax Division, Justice Nixon Sifuna nodded to the intentions by SPCL to auction the land parcel Reference No.1338/130 (the suit property) after the plaintiff failed to pay a loan arrears amounting to Ksh 15,379,925 as outstanding by August 30, 2022.

Justice Sifuna stated that the plaintiff has unequivocally admitted to failing to comply with the repayment terms of the loan agreement and to being indebted to the defendant.

The judge noted that the plaintiff contested the interest rate charged by the defendant, but it did not produce evidence in support of the claim,

“Further, as has been held in various cases in our jurisdiction, this is not a sufficient ground to grant an injunction to prevent a chargee from the exercise of its statutory power of sale,” Justice Sifuna said.

In determining the suit, Justice Sifuna dismissed the application with costs stating it lacks merit to grant such orders.

Mineral Masters Company had file a suit before the High court seeking temporary order of injunction restraining (SPLC) either by themselves or their appointed agents, servants, assignees and or any other persons from auctioning, selling, disposing, transferring and or in any other manner interfering with the parcel of land known as Land Reference No. 1338/130 pending the hearing and determination of this suit.

The grounds of the application were that SPLC breached the terms of the loan agreement as it delayed the loan disbursement, disbursed the loan in tranches, failed to provide proper accounts for loan performance and charged interest exceeding the principal loan amount, contrary to Section 44A of the Banking Act.

The plaintiff further alleged that the defendant acted arbitrarily by imposing unilateral interest and penalties outside the loan agreement, altering timelines contrary to the agreement, making illegal and unjustified deductions and demanding recovery of unlawful interest.

They stated that the claimed outstanding loan amount of Ksh 24,041,559/66 lacks proper justification due to incomplete accounts and the scheduled auction is unlawful.

In opposition, the defendant filed a replying affidavit sworn by Yashika Sagar. He averred that the defendant advanced to the plaintiff Ksh 10,000,000 on February 21, 2022 under a loan agreement requiring repayment within 9 months at a 10% monthly interest rate and that the plaintiff provided security for the loan, including guarantees and property charges.

It was contended that the plaintiff failed to repay the loan as agreed which led the defendant to issue a demand letter in August 2022, and the plaintiff admitted the default in a letter dated September 2, 2022, promising repayment but failing to honor it.

In his affidavit stated that the plaintiff admitted breaching the loan terms and failing to make repayments and that the application lacks merit and was filed in bad faith, primarily to delay repayment without valid grounds.

The judge dismissed the suit with costs