By Andrew Kariuki
The Milimani Magistrates Court has cleared a businessman of all charges linked to forgery and fraud after finding that he was unknowingly drawn into a sophisticated laptop procurement scheme.
In a judgment delivered on January 22, 2026, the Milimani Magistrate’s Court ruled that the prosecution failed to demonstrate that the businessman had knowledge of, or participated in, the use of forged procurement documents.
The court found that he acted in good faith throughout the transaction and did not gain any financial benefit from the dealings.
Magistrate Carolyne Nyaguthii held that the evidence presented showed the accused was misled by documents he reasonably believed to be genuine and could not therefore be held criminally responsible for the fraud.
The court, however, reached a different conclusion regarding the second accused, an ICT director who has remained at large since 2020.
The magistrate found that the director was the architect of the scheme, having orchestrated the procurement process through the use of counterfeit Local Purchase Orders (LPOs).
In convicting the absconding ICT director, the court drew a clear line between an innocent party caught up in the fraud and the individual who engineered the illegal transactions.
The ruling effectively brought the long-running case to an end, with the court distinguishing between a victim of deception and the perpetrator behind the fraudulent scheme.
