An elderly billionaire will on Tuesday attend court proceedings from his hospital bed in India after the court allowed him travel for treatment.
Senior resident magistrate Gladys Ollimo allowed Shivjibhai Varsani, 70, to appear virtually for the mention of his case
This follows a successful application by his lawyers, M Kinyua and King'ang'ia Wachira.
“The first accused is hereby allowed to travel to India to seek urgent medical attention. He may attend court virtually on the scheduled mention date subject to availability of a virtual platform,” Ollimo said.
She ordered Varsani or his representatives to tender evidence of his departure from the court’s jurisdiction in form of a copy of air ticket or boarding pass.
The prosecution had raised doubts about his excuses for missing court dates.
The billionaire has been missing court dates because of a number of excuses.
The court had issued six warrants of arrest against him.
But in December, Mombasa chief magistrate Alex Ithuku suspended the arrest warrants after letters from a hospital in India proved he had been treated there.
Ithuku also ordered that Varsani be produced in court on December 18.
His lawyers however produced Varsani on December 15 and sought permission for him to travel.
Varsani is charged alongside Paresh Parbat and Victor Were with 11 counts of illegally transferring one ordinary share valued at Sh20 billion to Jadva Parbat between April 14, 2002 and January 31, 2006.
The shares are the property of the late Premji Pindolla held in Ghanshyam Builders.
They were also charged with forging the late Pindolla’s signature with the intention of defrauding him.