Alfred Keter and 2 others deny fraud charges in Nairobi

Nandi Hill MP Alfred Keter and two other people accused of forging Sh633 million Treasury Bill have walked to temporary freedom after spending the weekend in police cells.

Mr Keter, Mr Madat Saburali and  Mr Johnstone Arthur Sakwa, directors of Desai Limited, were presented before a Nairobi court on Monday morning.

The three were arrested last Friday at Central Bank of Kenya headquarters in Nairobi as they wait to meet Governor Patrick Njoroge.

They pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to defraud, making a false document, forgery and uttering a false document.

Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi released the three on either Sh2 million cash bail or Sh5 million bond each.

The magistrate ordered that the MP be allowed unlimited access to his phone in the presence of detectives at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations as he seeks to build his defence.

He also directed the lawmaker to make formal application to Safaricom for his SMS conversation with Dr Njoroge since November 2017.

Mr Keter's phone was confiscated at the time of arrest but he had requested the court to have it returned to enable him prepare his defence.

The magistrate also ordered that his lawyers be granted access to CCTV footage showing the time the three entered CBK premises on Friday, the talks held with the Dr Njoroge on that day until the time of their arrest.

The magistrate further directed the three to report to DCI headquarters once a week.

The prosecution had requested court to deny bond to Mr Chatur for allegedly possessing an ID belonging to someone else with the same particulars, and that his true identity is unknown.

However court ruled that that is not a sufficient reason deny an accused person bond.