Reprieve for Dubai Bank directors as judge reduces bond by Sh45m
Dubai Bank in Nairobi in a picture taken on August 24,2015. FILE PHOTO | EVANS HABIL | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Lady Justice Grace Macharia also reduced by Sh7 million the cash bail pronounced by Milimani Chief Magistrate Daniel Ogembo.
- Allowing the directors’ application for a review of the bail terms imposed by Mr Ogembo, Justice Macharia said they were excessive and unreasonable.
- The judge directed Dubai Bank, which has been placed under statutory management by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), to produce in court the passport of its chairman, Mr Zubeidi.
The bonds of three Dubai Bank directors was slashed Friday by Sh45 million each by the High Court.
Justice Grace Macharia also reduced by Sh7 million the cash bail imposed by Milimani Chief Magistrate Daniel Ogembo.
Mr Ogembo had ordered the directors to deposit a bond of Sh50 million with one surety or a cash bail of Sh10 million each. They are charged with money laundering.
The three had told Justice Macharia that “the terms are too punitive and amount to pre-trial detention”.
Justice Macharia also ordered the directors, Mr Abdul Hafedh Zubeidi, Mr Ali Bashir Sheikh and Prof Wilson Hassan Nandwa, to surrender their travel documents to the court.
Dubai Bank has been placed under statutory management by the Central Bank of Kenya.
EXCESSIVE AND UNREASONABLE
Allowing the directors’ application for a review of the bail terms imposed by Mr Ogembo, Justice Macharia said they were excessive and unreasonable.
“Bail conditions must always be commensurate with the charges that a suspect may be facing,” Justice Macharia said.
She said the Director of Public Prosecutions had not opposed the plea to reduce the bail but had urged her to impose new conditions.
She said ordering the three to surrender their travel documents was to ensure they did not leave the court’s jurisdiction without permission.
“Prof Nandwa, who teaches at Zanzibar University, will continue earning his living but will have to ask the court to release his passport whenever he wishes to travel,” Justice Macharia said.
She declined to comment on the validity and legality of the charges saying: “There is a pending application before Mr Ogembo.”
The three have asked the lower court to terminate the case against them, claiming they were charged through non-existent laws.”
State prosecutor Warui Mungai impressed upon Justice Macharia to order the three to surrender their travel documents.
Mr Mungai said two other directors of Dubai Bank, Mr Buttay Binay and Mr Deeraj Kumar Baghel, had fled the country and an international warrant of arrest had now been issued.
Mr Binay and Mr Baghel are accused of stealing Sh12.6 million between April 28, 2014 and September 14, 2014 from Dubai Bank’s Moi Avenue branch in Nairobi.
