Arrest warrant twist in ‘Sonko’ drama

By Nicholas Ngolyo newsdesk@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Sunday, October 3 2010 at 22:00

A warrant of arrest was issued against a man with the same names as Makadara MP Gidion Kioko Mbuvi for jumping bail in a Sh18 million fraud case in 2005, court records show.

Kibera chief magistrate Catherine Mwangi issued the arrest warrant on August 4, 2005, after a request by the prosecution.

Mr Mbuvi was in court charged with forgery and had applied for bail. He was freed on a Sh100,000 bond, surety in the same amount and a contact person.

When he failed to appear in court, the prosecution asked for a warrant of arrest, which was issued. But the police did not arrest Mr Kioko, so the case was closed, although the arrest warrant appears to be still in force.

“The court file is closed, but the warrant of arrest will remain in force,” the magistrate ruled after police failed to arrest the accused.

Reached for comment, Mr Mbuvi declined to give any information about the matter. He said: “No comment.”

The complaint was that Mr Mbuvi, together with others not in court, obtained blankets and fabrics using a forged local purchase order allegedly issued by a government ministry.

Mr Mbuvi had denied three charges of forgery, uttering a false document and obtaining goods by pretences.

The court was told that on or before May 9, 2000 at Ngara, Nairobi, Mr Mbuvi and others forged four purchase orders claiming they were from the Ministry of Home Affairs, National Heritage and Sports.

He was also charged with fraudulently uttering to Mr Praveen Misra three forged purchase orders between May 9 and June 2000, at Testillose (EA) Company at Ngara.

A third count stated that between May 9 and June 22, 2000 at the company Mr Mbuvi, together with others, obtained 36,530 blankets and 6,200 metres of fabric, all valued at Sh18.1 million by presenting three forged purchase orders.

He was freed after Ms Florence Ngenyi Kavoi of Machakos stood surety and Mr Peter Wambua Kaluki of Prisons signed as contact person.