The trial of five people implicated in the illegal sale of Sh2.3 billion land belonging to Miwani Sugar Company will not proceed until an appeal they have filed is determined.
Court of Appeal judge Asike Makhandia made the finding after Ian Maina, Sukhwinder Singh Chatthe, Epainto Apondo Okoyo and Philip Odongo convinced the court that their appeal was arguable.
They argued that their intended appeal would raise serious issues as to whether the same magistrate can proceed to hear them on their defence when he had already ruled that they had no case to answer.
In the ruling, Justice Makhandia said, “As it is, it would not be farfetched to assume that the High Court seems to have directed the trial court on how to proceed with the case which may be a violation of fair trial provisions.”
Chatthe, Maina, Odongo, Okoyo and Crossley Holdings Limited were acquitted for lack of evidence. Their co-accused Adulakadir Elkindy, a former magistrate, and Moses Osewe, were found to have conspired to defraud the state firm of 9,394 acres between May 21, 2007, and January 30, 2008.
The DPP appealed their acquittal arguing that the court erred in finding that the prosecution had failed to prove ownership when it had adduced sufficient evidence that it was public property.
The DPP said the fraud had been initiated by a fraudulent court order initiated by Elkindy, a former magistrate in his capacity as a Deputy Registrar.
Last year, High Court Judge Mumbi Ngugi, while delivering the judgement, said she didn’t understand why the trial magistrate acquitted the suspects even after the prosecution provided sufficient evidence to prove that they all participated in the scheme to defraud the land.
“I set aside the magistrate’s ruling that acquitted them and order that they are put on their defence as I find the evidence against them was sufficient in my view to offer an explanation on their defence,” Ngugi ruled.
Edited by R.Wamochie