A 54 year old electrician has been charged in Nairobi with stealing Sh 102,000 given to him to secure a surety bond for an accused person.
Malosa Mohamed Madini is accused of stealing from Erick Mwangi Muthi (in custody) between 20th and 27th May 2019 by pretending that he would process for him court bond.
He denied the charges before Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi.
The question is, how does a stranger stand surety for an accused person? Is it some form of business being transacted along the court corridors?
Malosa told the court that Muthi is his long time friend and had told him to look for someone who would process a bond of Sh 300,000 for him.
He further told the court that he met one Collins Murunga through another friend who said was an ‘expert’ at processing bonds and would help him.
According to him, Murunga was supposed to get 10 percent of the 300,000 which is Sh 30,000 in the beginning but he ended up asking for more.
Malosa contacted Muthi who agreed to top up the money.
However, the said Murunga allegedly never kept his end of the bargain.
He (Malosa) reported the matter at central police station. Murunga was arrested when he met him to get another top of the money he had requested.
It is alleged that after the arrest, Murunga him and an officer by the name Korir that he would reimburse the money at 2 o’clock that day but never showed up.
Malosa further said that he has also never seen Korir again after the report.
He added that when he calls Murunga on phone, he tells him to be patient as he would pay the money.
On Friday 13th Murunga picked him up along Koinange street. He was in the company of other people in the car and informed him that he was to drop them at Upperhill area in Nairobi and upon arrival, he was arrested and booked at Capitol Hill police station.
Murunga allegedly told him that he would be released upon payment of Sh 20,000 but says he only had 5,000.
He told him to raise the other Sh 15,000 so that he could withdraw the charges against him.
He further told the court that when Murunga failed to show up today on Monday 16th, police at Capitol Hill said they had t take him to court since they could not keep him in custody anymore.
He told the court that he was willing to pay back the Sh 50,000 to Mwangi.
The magistrate told Malosa that he was going to help unravel the mystery of cartels that surety bond for accused persons.
The court noted that the documents used by these cartels may be forged since it has no time to confirm the same.
The magistrate requested for a pre bail report before granting him bail. The case was set for mention on 24 September for set of hearing date.
