A Nairobi Court has differed the plea taking of 10 suspects arrested over a Ksh 67m gold scam.
The ten; Samuel Gathuru, Moses Oketch, Patroba Tobis, Elisha Kimbero, Teddy Kowino, Kaisarios, Mugabe Biriko, Seth Okute, Bruno Oliende and Collins Langat were expected to appear in court today.
They were to answer charges of obtaining money by fraudulent means and being in possession of firearms fraudulently.
However, none of the ten appeared in court prompting the prosecution site to move the court to issue a warrant of arrest against them.
According to the ODPP, the suspects were instructed to appear every Friday at the DCIO Nairobi.
“They appeared today, and they were notified that they would take a plea but they deliberately chose to disappear from the premises of this court. Am praying for a forfeiture of their deposited cash bail as well as the court to issue a warrant of arrest.” submitted the prosecutor.
However, the defence Lawyers led by Danstan Omari and Wandugi objected to the submission saying that the last-minute move by the DCI to prepare a charge sheet without prior notice to the accused was a calculated move to have them spend a weekend in custody.
The court agreed with the defence that indeed the notice to charge submitted to the suspects if any, was extremely short and that the miscellaneous detention application against them was not yet closed.
The were directed to appear before the court on February 20, 2023, for plea-taking.
