Manager of city Chinese restaurant at centre of racism row released on bond

A Chinese immigrant who worked at restaurant at the centre of a racism row has been released on bond.

Her release came after the prosecution relaxed its stance by dropping its earlier objection to her release on bail.

Ms Zhao Yang was released on a bond of Sh100,000 pending trial.

She has also been charged with being in Kenya illegally and spent three days at the Langata Women’s Prison.

“The application for denial of bail has now been recounted by the State and they are now not opposed to the release of the accused person on bail,” presiding Magistrate Edda Agade said when he released the suspect.

“What they now pray for is for her to tender her passport in court until the matter is finalised,” she added.

Through her lawyer, Cliff Ombeta, Ms Zhao made a passionate plea for bail in which she stated that she was willing to abide by the conditions set for her release.

DEPOSIT PASSPORT

Among the conditions was that she must deposit her passport in the "safe custody" of the court and report to the Tourism Liaison Office at Utalli House every fortnight until the case is heard and determined.

“In the meantime, if any compelling reasons arise, then this order can be reversed as and when the need arises or if circumstances change,” the magistrate warned.

Last week, the Director of Public Prosecutions obtained a custodial order against Ms Zhao and was allowed to detain her for two days after she was charged with being in the country illegally and operating a business without a permit.

The prosecution had claimed she lived in the country for close to two years undetected.

It was also claimed then that she had no fixed residence and had refused to surrender or disclose details of her immigration status.

She had denied the charges, which read that “on March 23 at around 11am, along Galana Road in Kilimani, Nairobi, being the manager of the eatery identified as the Chinese Restaurant, jointly with others not before the court, was found operating the restaurant in contravention of a section of the law restricting the operation of a Class B restaurant without a tourism licence.”

NO-AFRICAN POLICY

Ms Zhao is the relations manager at the controversial restaurant, which had a strict “no-African after 5pm” policy.

She had told the Nation reporters earlier that they chose to lock out Africans after 5pm for security reasons, following a recent attack by armed robbers, who are said to have made away with Sh600,000 and robbed patrons at gunpoint.

The case against Ms Zhao has been scheduled to be heard on June 8 and mentioned on April 14.

The magistrate directed that all copies of witness statements and documentation the prosecution intends to rely on be released to lawyer Ombeta.

Mr Ombeta partly opposed the order for Ms Zhao to surrender her passport, stating that it was his client’s only identity document and it may be abused by the immigration officers to deport Ms Zhao to China.

Chinese investors had also asked the government to go slow in taking action against the restaurant, warning that hasty action would not uncover the real controversy behind the scenes.