Nairobi County Assembly Minority Whip Peter Imwatok was on Thursday charged with defrauding a businesswoman Sh2.1 million pretending he would sell her a parcel of land in the city.
Mr Imwatok, who had two warrants of arrest issued against him in another case of being in possession of a firearm, was charged at the Milimani Law Courts.
He denied that he obtained the money fraudulently from Ms Fresky Jepchirchir Bett in 2017 pretending that he would sell to her a parcel of land Nairobi/Block 155/578, a fact he knew to be false.
The prosecution said Mr Imwatok, who is also the Makongeni MCA, obtained the money from Ms Bett on diverse dates between February 1 and October 31, 2017.
Defence lawyer John Diro applied for the release of the MCA on bond saying he is not a flight risk.
“The accused herein is the minority whip at the Nairobi County Assembly and he voluntarily presented himself to court as directed by police on Wednesday when he was summoned over the case,” Mr Diro said.
Mr Diro also informed the court that the accused is a public figure and he will always abide by the court orders imposed on him.
But the magistrate questioned why Mr Imwatok had skipped court attendance in a firearms case against him.
“There has been a pending warrant of arrest against the accused since March 4, 2020,” Mr Cheruiyot said.
Mr Diro and two other lawyers explained that the accused had been indisposed and produced medical records to support their claim.
The magistrate heard the matter was worsened when the courts were locked down due to the Covid-19 pandemic which made it difficult to have the warrants lifted.
State prosecutor Anderson Gikunda did not opposed the release of the accused on bond and also the lifting of the two warrants of arrest.
Mr Cheruiyot lifted the warrants of arrest and released the Mr Imwatok on a cash bail of Sh200,000. The case will be mentioned on July 2 for further directions.
Mr Imwatok was warned against skipping court mentions.
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