Court lifts Mungatana's arrest warrant

An arrest warrant against Garsen MP Danson Mungatana was on Monday evening lifted after he presented himself to court.

Mombasa chief magistrate Stephen Riechi lifted the warrant with a warning to the MP to take court orders seriously.

Mr Mungatana faces a charge of issuing three bad cheques amounting to Sh2.1 million, a charge which he denies.

He was released on a Sh500, 000 bond with a surety in similar amount or a cash bail of Sh100, 000 which he paid.

Prosecutor Samson Kiptum did not object to have the warrant lifted since the legislator had presented himself to court.

Defence lawyer Jared Magolo apologized to the court and the prosecution for the inconvenience the MP had caused.

Mr Magolo added that they are of the view the matter be mentioned within a month’s time so as to try an out of court resolution to the case. He argued that the matter is basically a trade dispute.

The MP allegedly issued three cheques of Sh700, 000 each to Chwile Investments Ltd on June 20, 2011 which were to be drawn on his account of Co-operative Bank Parliament road Nairobi branch knowing that the said account had insufficient funds.

Earlier in the morning, the MP’s bid to have the warrant of arrest against him set aside had been rejected by the court.

The magistrate said there were no compelling reasons given to have the warrant of arrest he issued last week set aside.

The High Court dismissed a petition by Mr Mungatana in which he sought to have the criminal proceedings against him suspended.

Mr Mungatana, in the petition, had also sought for an order that he pays the complainant his debt of Sh2.1 million by instalment.