Former Tetu MP James Ndung’u Gethenji has received a reprieve after the High Court stopped the hearing of a fraud case against him.
Gethenji is battling with his elder brother over the control and management of their late father’s Sh20 billion upmarket Kihingo Village Estate in Kitsuru Nairobi.
On Friday, February 5, Justice Pauline Nyamweya barred Nairobi Chief Magistrate Martha Mutuku from trying Ndung’u in the forgery case filed against him by his elder brother, Fredrick Gitahi, last December.
The judge stopped the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) from prosecuting the forgery case against Ndung’u pending the hearing and determination of the judicial review application he has filed claiming his rights are being violated.
The case has been fixed for hearing on February 4, 2021.
Certifying the case urgent, Justice Nyamweya said a further trial of the case will prejudice Ndung’u’s fundamental and constitutional rights.
In her ruling, the judge said the DPP based the current forgery case on similar facts as those presented before Justice David Majanja in a commercial case number E3934 of 2020 by Gitahi.
Justice Nyamweya said Justice Majanja dismissed the forgery allegations saying no “evidence has been presented to prove Ndung’u forged the minutes.”
Gitahi had claimed before Justice Majanja that the accused (Ndung’u) had forged minutes of their company’s Annual General Meeting held on November 21, 2018 thereby appointing Chacha Mabanga as a director of Kihingo Village Waridi Gardens Management One Limited which manages the estate with 55 palatial homes and a Club House worth Sh5bn.
It is this company where Ndung’u is the chairman and a director alongside Gitahi which manages the high-end estate. They have a share each.
Also the judicial review judge stopped the Director of Criminal investigations (DCI) from filing any criminal proceedings in any other court in Kenya against Ndung’u arising from the same minutes of the November 21 2018 Kihingo Village AGM.
In the case before Justice Majanja, Gitahi had sought to have Ndung’u found guilty of forging the minutes then be barred from holding any public office for a period of 15 years.
Justice Majanja declined that request saying the allegations were not proved at all.
