Former Chase bank boss Mohamed Zafrullah Khan will spend another night in a police cell after the prosecution objected to his release on bond after being charged with conspiracy to defraud the said bank Sh 1.7 billion.
Khan was charged with conspiracy to defraud Chase bank by pretending that the disbursement of 1.7B they effected from internal accounts of the bank to Camellia Investment Ltd, Cleopatra Holdings Ltd, Golden Azure Ltd and Colnbrook Holdings Ltd were genuine loan facilities to entities and were disbursed in the ordinary course of loan process flow.
The accused who will spend the night at Kileleshwa police station is alleged to have committed the offence between August 21st 2009 and March 31st 2016 at Chase Bank headquarters in Nairobi jointly with others not before court.
He has also been charged with stealing more than Sh 800 million at Chase bank Headquarters jointly with others not before court, money which came in to their possession by virtue of their position as Directors of the said bank.
Khan has further been charged with failing to comply with the provision of section 44/45/46 of the proceeds of crime and Anti Money Laundering Act 2009 to wit, failing to report transactions involving cash in excess of Sh 1 million and establish and maintain records of the customers in relations to transactions of the institution.
The accused denied all charges before Senior Principal Magistrate Martha Mutuku.
Khan is charged alongside seven other officials of the collapsed Chase bank.
Prosecution grounds to deny Khan bond
The prosecution objected to Khan’s release on bond on grounds that he is a flight risk and owing to the seriousness of the offences he is facing, there is a likelihood to abscond.
“The accused is also being investigated in 5 other files involving money he might have misappropriated,” the prosecutor told the court.
Khan’s lawyer objections
However, Khan’s lawyer Cecil Miller objected the prosecutor’s request to deny his client bond saying that the request goes ahead to show that the state is not ready yet they had presented the accused the accused before court.
Miller questioned the prosecution’s incompletion of investigations on his client yet he recorded his first statement with the police last year.
“It’s been a year and two months since the investigations started and my client has so far recorded two statements with the police. What have they been doing?” Miller questioned.
He further said that his client has always been available when required by the investigating officer adding that the police know his place of aboard.
SPM Martha Mutuku will deliver her ruling tomorrow at 2.30 pm whether to release Khan on bond.
Request to defer plea
Mr Miller had earlier in the day requested the court to defer his client’s plea taking for a period of 30 days on grounds that he is required to go to the USA for heart treatment.
The counsel added that his client may lose the opportunity to be treated should he be charged due to the tough restrictions imposed by USA president Donald Trump.
He added that the DPP preferred the charges against his client after he obtained a court order from the high court on June 27th that he be given his passport to travel for treatment in the USA.
“The high court ordered that my client’s passport be released and he should deposit Sh1 million bond to secure his passport.
Miller told the court that his client’s passport has been with the police since last year.
