Reprieve for lawyer Ahmednassir Abdullahi in certificate dispute

Lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi. PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Mr Cheruiyot said allegations that Mr Abdullahi forged the signature of the late Simani who was killed by Al Shabaab terrorists in the Westgate Mall attack in Westlands, Nairobi in September 2014 to endorse his qualification have not been proved.
  • Mr Muhoro had filed an application seeking orders to enable him investigate the certificates of Mr Abdullahi alleging there was information he does not qualify to be lawyer since he allegedly forged the qualification certificate.

A bid by Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Ndegwa Muhoro to probe allegations that lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi forged his qualification certificate has been dismissed.

If the investigation had proceeded, the ramifications could have been to block Mr Abdullahi from legal practise.

But Milimani senior principal magistrate Kenneth Cheruiyot said no cogent evidence was presented to him to prove allegations that Mr Abdullahi forged the signature of lawyer Peter Simani (now deceased) to endorse his qualification certificate to practise as a lawyer.

The magistrate said evidence presented before him alleged that: “…even Mr Simani did not have a practising certificate in 1992 when Mr Abdullahi was doing his pupillage at the law firm and therefore he could not sign any certificate of pupillage for the former Law Society of Kenya (LSK) chairman.”

Mr Cheruiyot said if that had been the case, it is not Mr Abdullahi who should be blamed but Mr Simani, under whose watch and supervision he practised for two years.

“If the deceased lawyer had not taken out a practising certificate from LSK to give him a mandate to legally supervise Mr Abdullahi then the latter should not blamed. It is the late Simani who should be held responsible and not Mr Abadullahi,” ruled Mr Cheruiyot.

Mr Muhoro had filed an application seeking orders to enable him to investigate Mr Abdullahi's certificates, alleging there was information that he does not qualify to be lawyer since he allegedly forged the qualification certificate.

The magistrate said even before the swearing-in of Mr Abdullahi, all his certificates had been verified and his name published in the Kenya Gazette before he was admitted into the roll of advocates by the Chief Justice.

“If there was any anomaly in the certificates it could have been detected during the verification process before [he was] sworn in by the CJ,” Mr Cheruiyot ruled.

Mr Simani was killed by Al-Shabaab terrorists in the Westgate Mall attack in Westlands, Nairobi, in September 2014.