Miller requested the court not to issue arrest warrant against his clients, saying that they did not deliberately failed to attend court since they had previously presented themselves to Banking Fraud Investigations Units (BFI) investigators for purpose of taking their finger print and recording their statements before pleading to the charges.
The lawyer assured the court that he will personally present them to court during the next mention of the case on September 4 without further delay. The magistrate granted Miller’s request and issued only summons for the suspects.
The four are jointly charged alongside former Chase Bank chairman Mohamed Zafrullah Khan and three other also senior former managers namely Ducan Kabui Gichui, former Group Managing Director, James Mwenja General manager credit and Makaros Agumbi, Financial General who have since denied various counts of fraud And they are out of Sh 2 million cash bail each.
They were granted bail following successful application by Miller who informed the court that his clients are not a flight risk.
The accused persons are charged that between August 28 2009 and March 31 2016 conspired with intent to defraud Chase Bank limited by means of pretending that the disbursement of Sh1.6 billion they effected from internal account of the Bank to the accounts of Camelia investments Limited, Cleopatra Holdings Limited, Golden Azure Limited and Colbrook Holding Limited were genuine loan facilities to the entities and were disbursed in the ordinary process of loan process flow.
Last week high court has rejected a request by the prosecution to vary an order allowing ex- Chase bank boss Zafrulla Khan and 7 others permission to travel out of the country.
An applicant, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had informed the court that if Khan is granted permission to travel out of the country, there was a chance that he would not return back to the country.
DPP sought the passport should remain detained in court during the pendency of the trial as part of conditions attached to his release on bail pending trial, something we thought had been resolved at the trial court.
Khan through his lawyers Cecil Miller and Peter Wena filed a replying affidavit in which they opposed the basis upon which DPP filed its application in the high court criminal division .
Chase bank collapsed in April 2016 and has since been under the control of Central Bank of Kenya(CBK).
