Former Ugenya MP arrested, to face poll fraud charges

Harrison Kivisu @PeopleDailyKe

The  Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (EACC) yesterday  arrested  former Ugenya MP Christopher Karan over claims of forgery of election petition documents.

Mombasa county EACC boss Japhet Baithalu confirmed Karani’s arrest alongside his lawyer for allegedly forging a letter he used in a petition against his opponent, David Ochieng’ who defeated him during a by-election on April 6 after the court nullified Karan’s election in the 2017 General Election.

MP arraigned

Also arrested alongside Karan and his lawyer  George Mbaya were two doctors George Owino and Mohammed Adan Mohamed.

Baithalu said Mbaya and Owino would be charged with colluding to prepare and use the forged documents in the petition challenging the election of  Karan.

 “Our officers arrested him within Mombasa after tracing him for the better part of Wednesday, he is detained and will be arraigned today over charges of forgery here in Mombasa,” said Baithalu. 

By press time, details  remained scanty on what the two were doing in Mombasa, but the officers from the Anti-corruption agency said they were rounded up within streets of Mombasa town. They were detained at the Central Police Station.

The Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji had proved Karan’s prosecution on April 5 through a notice published on the Kenya Gazette. The duo was in Mombasa before they were arrested.

Falsifying documents

The ODM politician is accused of falsifying election poll documents in which he indicated he had been hospitalised hence managed to respond to the petition after the deadline had elapsed.

“He was arrested together with others and we don’t want to speculate because this is a matter that is headed to the courts. We have detained,” Baithalu told People Daily over the phone.

Ochieng edged out Karan in the April by-election after garnering 18,730 votes. Karani  secured 14, 567 votes.

Karana  allegedly presented a forged letter indicating he had been hospitalised in a bid to seek the court’s approval to file responses to the petition challenging his election past a deadline stipulated by the court.

On October 16, 2018, EACC wrote to Haji, asking for approval to charge Karan with fraud a move that triggered his arrest yesterday.