Feisal Mohammed Ali freed on Sh10 million bond

A Mombasa court has released a suspect linked to a Sh44 million ivory haul seized in Mombasa on a Sh10 million bond.

Mombasa businessman Feisal Mohamed Ali, alias Feisal Shahbal, walked to temporary freedom on Friday after Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko requested a two-week adjournment of the case.

Mr Ali and four others are accused of being found in possession of 2,152 kilogrammes of ivory on June 5 in Tudor, Mombasa.

The other suspects are Mr Abdul Halim Sadiq, Mr Ghalib Sadiq Kara, Mr Praverz Noor Mohamed, Mr Abdulmajeed Ibrahim.

They have denied the charges.

Principal Magistrate Davis Karani ruled that there were no compelling reasons to continue locking up Mr Ali.

“Having heard submissions by both parties, this court rules that there are no compelling reasons to continue to have the sixth accused in custody. He is hereby released on the same bond terms granted to other accused persons,” added Mr Karani.  

This is the second time Mr Ali has been released on bond after Mr Tobiko earlier succeeded in stopping his initial release.

During the hearing on Friday, Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Alexander Muteti and senior prosecuting counsels Peter Kiprop and Daniel Wamotsa asked Mr Karani to set aside his decision for two weeks to allow them to appeal at the High court.

Mr Muteti also asked the trial magistrate to disqualify himself from the case.

However, Mr Karani ruled that his decision to release the suspect would stand as it is, and that he would wait for the High Court verdict on Mr Muteti’s appeal before considering the resignation call.

The trial magistrate will rule on Mr Muteti’s application for the two-week adjournment on September 11.