A case in which businessman Nazir Bhadurali Jinnah is charged with pretending to be an advocate of the high court has taken a different turn after the police failed to prove the allegations that the suspect impersonated veteran lawyer Dr John Khaminwa.
A DCI officer Inspector Eunice Njue was taken to task by the defence lawyer Conrad Maloba to prove to the court how Nazir held out himself as an associate in the law firm of Khaminwa and Khaminwa advocates.
Inspector Njue was at pains to explain whether the law firm of Dr Khaminwa had lodged any complaint against Nazir.
"Did the law firm of Khaminwa report any complaint that Nazir was impersonating a lawyer in his law firm?" Asked Maloba.
In response the officer replied that no complaint was reported.
"No, we had not received any complaint from the law firm," she said.
The lawyer further questioned Inspector Njue on the basis of the case given that there was no complaint filed.
But the officer said she investigated the allegations of impersonation which is the basis of the matter.
The officer told the court that she only focused on investigating the allegations that the accused was presenting himself as the advocate from the 60-year-old law firm.
"Your honour, I focused on the allegations of the accused person presenting himself as a lawyer from Khaminwa and Khaminwa advocates," she said.
The defence continued to question the officer whether there was a witness from the said law firm to confirm whether the letter presented before the court was genuine from Khaminwa and Khaminwa advocates.
Presented with a letter from the DCI inquiring whether the accused was one of the lawyers in Khaminwa and Khaminwa law firm, Njue stated she did not get in touch with the veteran lawyer Dr John Khaminwa to confirm the position.
Instead, inspector Njue said Khaminwa and Khaminwa wrote a letter to the DCI explaining that.
"Nazir is not a lawyer in our law firm," stated the letter.
Nazir was arrested following a complaint made by Sunny Birdi Singh that he had lost money in a transaction that involved the law firms of Anjarwalla and Khanna advocates and Khaminwa and Khaminwa firm where the accused claimed to be an employee.
The officer said the accused posed as a lawyer from Khaminwa and Khaminwa advocates.
"The complainant asked the accused his status in the transaction to which he replied that he is from Khaminwa and Khaminwa advocates," he said.