Wycliffe Nyamasege
A Nairobi court has rejected a request by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji to withdraw a criminal case in which Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed’s brother Ahmed Rashid Jibril and his wife are accused of land fraud and forgery.
While declining to allow the DPP’s application, Milimani magistrate Rosalyne Aganyo ruled that the charges the couple is facing are very serious in nature hence directing that the case be heard to its conclusion.
“I hereby disallow the application and do order that the matter shall proceed for hearing in the normal manner before this court to its conclusion,” ruled Aganyo.
Jibril was charged alongside his wife Farrah Ali Mohamed in January this year over the matter that dates back to 2015.
The court had issued a warrant of arrest against Jibril after he skipped court to answer to four counts of fraud charges on December 24, 2019.
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The couple is accused of conspiring to defraud Francis Nyaga Njeru of his parcel of land valued at ksh75 million on October 19, 2015.
According to the police, the suspects entered into a tenancy agreement with China Road and Bridges purporting to be registered owners of the land.
In the second count, the two are accused of making a false document and obtaining registration of land by false pretence with intent to defraud Njeru another parcel of land valued at ksh150 million.
His wife, Farrah is yet to plead to the charges and was ordered to appear in court on May 7, 2020 for plea taking.
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They are also accused of forcible possession of the property.
“The offences facing the accused as charged are serious and involve land which is very emotive in Kenya today. It also pertains to proprietary rights protected by the constitution and the serious crimes such as those, in this case, should proceed to final trial before a competent court of law,” ruled Aganyo.
The magistrate took issue with the DPP’s action terming it as improper termination of serious criminal charges.
She stated that allowing the application would demoralise the police who conduct investigations and prosecutorial agencies to detriment of the country’s ability to combat and deter such crimes.
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The magistrate noted that the criminal case cannot be withdrawn without involvement of all the
parties especially the complainant whose case is before court.
She ruled that the DPP, who represents the complainant in court proceedings of a criminal nature is not in a fitting position to compromise the various criminal charges in the case.
The complainant was allegedly not involved in the drafting of the DPP’s application as the withdrawal orders are said to have come from “superiors”.
“Neither was he informed of the same and in consideration of his reaction of surprise immediately the application was made. The said instructing superiors are not in court to make the application,” Aganyo said.
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