Woman facing fraud charges fights her prosecution

A Kenyan woman accused of forging documents to inherit her relative’s property valued at Sh7 million in Switzerland has now challenged part of immigration law which she claims would lead to her automatic conviction.

Ms Milcah Mwende through lawyer Apollo Muinde claims that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) preferred her with criminal charges on a faulty section 54(L)(a) of the Kenyan Citizenship and Immigration Act of 2011.

Ms Mwende indicated that she would file a constitutional application at the High Court seeking a declaration that that section of the act be declared null and void.

Lawyer Muinde argued the Act incriminate not only his clients, but also every Kenyan citizen who possess any travel document including Identity Card.

“The section of the law under which the charges were preferred against the accused person is misplaced and is detrimental to any Kenyan Citizen, that section of the law needs to be interpreted,” he said

The contested section states that: “Any person who possesses a passport, travel document, visa or other document of Kenyan or other origin that purports to establish or that could be used to establish a person’s identity; or uses such a document, including for purposes of entering or remaining in Kenya; or imports, exports or deals in such a document commits an offence.”

Mr Muinde vowed to move to the High Court to seek an interpretation before the case is heard.

In his application, the defence lawyer said the office of the DPP ought not to have preferred charges against the accused person based on that section.

Mombasa Chief Magistrate Douglas Ogoti concurred with the lawyer and gave him a green light to seek for interpretation from the High Court before the case is heard.

“Having listened to the counsel and read the section under which the charge was registered, I find constitutional review necessary before the case can proceed for hearing,” the magistrate said.

Ms Mwende is accused of forging her aunt’s, Maria Mwikali Kimako, death certificate in order to acquire her property worth Sh7 million.

Ms Mwikali, who had been married to Mr Hauser, a Swiss national, died last year while on a tour in her home county, Kitui, after a short illness.

The woman had lived in Switzerland since 1991, and during her stay in the foreign land, she had stayed with her nieces including the accused person.

The suspect faced a second count, where she is accused of forging a birth certificate at the Kwale Registry in 1991, which she used to present herself as the biological daughter of the deceased.

The accused intended to use the document to acquire a passport in 2004, claiming the deceased was her mother and gave birth to her at Shimba Hills, within Kwale County, the court heard.

Ms Milcah alias Kasimu Mwende denied misleading Immigration Registration officers in Nairobi, who issued her with the passport that the deceased was her biological mother on February 18, 2004.

In other charges, the woman also denied presenting the forged death certificates and Ms Mwikali’s ID Card to Kitui Police Station on October 14, 2015.

The suspect is out on a Sh300, 000 bond with two Kenyan sureties of a similar amount.

The case will be mentioned on August 9, 2016.