A criminal case against a Real estate agent who claimed to have contracted Chickenpox after receiving over Sh16million from a New York based private auditor was yesterday adjourned until June 20.
The case against Stephen Njoroge Mbugua was to proceed before Milimani chief Susan Shitubi but it could not proceed since the prosecution was not ready after two witnesses who had been summoned to testify failed to turn up in court due to pressure of work at their respective workplace.
The two witnesses were from Equity Bank and NCBA bank
Lawyer Robert Asembo who is watching brief for the complainant told the court that the case has been pending in court since 2019. He asked the court to compel the prosecution to proceed with the case without further delay.
During the last hearing the court was told that Mbugua contracted Chickenpox after receiving over 16 Million from a New York-based private auditor for the purchase of a parcel of land in upmarket Karen Estate Nairobi flew to Philipines.
Pleading for justice, complainant Joseph Gitau had urged the court to legally avenge him since “it is well over three years since he paid for the land and nothing has forthcome.”
Mbugua has since denied defrauding him Sh16million pretending he would sell him half an acre of land in the leafy Karen Estate, near Hillcrest, Gitau, and said he wired the money into the accused’s Dollar Account held at Equity Bank Karen Branch on October 1 2017.” Lawyer Robert Asembo is holding briefs for the complainant in the case.
“Soon after I transferred the money through New York Bankers I called Mbugua for him to confirm whether he had received the same in his Dollar Account, at the Equity Bank, Karen Branch,” recalled Gitau.
He told the court, Mbugua confirmed receipt of the money after three days as he had switched off his phone, then flew to Philipines for specialized treatment after allegedly contracting Chickenpox.
Gitau said he kept communicating via email and Whatsapp to the accused about transferring the money to his Kenyan Bank as earlier agreed before concluding the sale agreement.
He testified to date he has never got his money back despite concerted efforts which culminated in him asking the Police to intervene. He also has not been allocated the land.
The magistrate heard in mid-2017, Mr Gitau travelled from New York to Nairobi to be shown by the accused the upmarket property he had bought.
“How did you learn there was land being sold in Karen Nairobi while in New York,” Gitau was asked by state prosecutor Anderson Gikunda.
“ Mbugua had placed an advertisement in his since he was in the real estate business,” he answered.
In the advert read out to the magistrate, Mbugua had alleged there were “half-acre plots lined for sale at Karen Nairobi.”
The complainant said after seeing the advert in the web of the accused he called him as they had worked together for four years before flying out for greener pastures and the accused plunging into real estate ventures.
They had kept on communicating.
The witness produced a sale agreement between him and the accused over the sale of the said Karen property. He also tabled correspondences’ between them.
In his bid to recover either his money or land and to avoid litigation, Mr Gitau told Ms Mutuku he invoked alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in vain.
“I even informed the accused sister to ask him to pay me in vain,” Gitau told the court.
