Echesa to spend weekend in police cell
Former Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa outside JKIA court on February 14, 2010. PHOTO | FRANCIS NDERITU | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- The former minister will be held at Muthaiga Police Station.
A Nairobi court has remanded former Sports minister Rashid Echesa until Monday 6pm to allow police complete investigation.
The court ruled that Echesa will be released on a cash bail of Sh1 million after police complete search.
Echesa was arrested Thursday by Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) detectives over over Sh40 billion fake military tender.
He was arraigned on Friday morning at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) court and police
asked the magistrate to be allowed to detain him for 21 days in order to complete investigations.
The prosecution said investigators need to travel to the US to collect more evidence.
The court further heard that releasing him will jeopardise collection of evidence, some of which was found in the possession of the suspect.
However, his lawyer Evans Ondieki opposed the request by the prosecution while claiming the reasons behind his arrest were political.
His defence team also alleges that his arrest is malicious, given the timing and the number of days the prosecution wants to hold him.
The magistrate allowed police to detain Echesa and other suspects and also to conduct search in their homes.
The former minister will be held at Muthaiga Police Station.
