Nakuru Town West MP denied bond ahead of court date

Several MPs have thronged Railways Police Station in Nakuru town where their colleague Samuel Arama spent another night following his arrest over suspected land fraud. PHOTO | PETER MBURU | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Efforts by colleagues and supporters to secure his release flopped despite camping outside the station the whole of Saturday.
  • Several MPs thronged the Railways Police Station on Sunday in another bid to secure his temporary release.

Nakuru Town West MP Samuel Arama spent a second night in custody on Saturday after he was denied police bond.

This was after both the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission(EACC) and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) made a decision to charge the lawmaker in court on Monday over alleged land fraud.

Efforts by his supporters and several parliamentary colleagues to secure his release failed despite camping outside the station the whole of Saturday.

Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria reportedly visited Mr Arama at 1am on Sunday morning.

Several MPs thronged the Railways Police Station on Sunday in another bid to secure his temporary release ahead of his arraignment on Monday.

CHARGES APPROVED

On Saturday, DPP Noordin Haji confirmed that he had approved charges against the lawmaker who was arrested in a bar on Friday night.

According to Mr Haji, Mr Arama will face charges of abuse of office, conspiracy to defraud, making a document without authority, uttering a document with intent to deceive, obtaining registration of land by false pretence and knowingly misleading an investigator.

The DPP accused the MP of colluding with officers from the Nakuru land registry to illegally transfer the land in question to himself.

Mr Haji appeared to have let off the hook lawyer Kennedy Begi Onkoba, whom the EACC had recommended that he be charged alongside the MP.

The EACC had earlier indicated that it was hunting for three more suspects in connection with the land fraud.

“This is as a result of investigations by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) after a complaint from a resident was received in relation to the manner in which Mr Arama acquired a plot in Nakuru Municipality,” the statement added.