A city businessman has been charged before Milimani Law Courts on Wednesday, August 3, 2022, with obtaining Ksh 10.7 million over a fake U.S Military tender deal.
Appearing before Chief Magistrate Wendy Kagendo, Mohammed Kassim Salat denied one charge of obtaining money by false pretences levelled against him by the state.
The Prosecution alleged that Kassim on January 19, 2022, at Eastleigh shopping centre in Starehe sub-county, Nairobi County obtained Ksh 10.7 million from Abdirashid Abdullahi Omar by falsely pretending that he would jointly venture into a tender for supply of food and jet oil to the U.S military base in Somalia.
After denying the charges, the accused sought to be released on lenient bail terms saying he will comply with all the orders set by the court.
The prosecution through Anderson Gikunda did not oppose the accused person being released on bail but urged the court to have him deposit his passport to avoid jumping of bail.
“The accused person deposit his passport in court cause most of his business interests are in Somali.
“Having the passport deposited in court does not mean that he cannot travel, when he wishes to travel he can always come to court and make an application to have the court temporarily release his passport,” Gikunda said.
But the accused person opposed the request by the state saying it seeks to completely disable his business until the matter is heard and determined by the court.
“The issue of passport, the prosecution has not provided sufficient reasons as to why they want the passport. I am a Kenyan citizen,” the accused person stated
However, the magistrate ordered Kassim to be released on a bond of Ksh2 million or a cash bail of Ksh 1 million.
The case will be mentioned on August 18, 2021 for pretrial directions
