Mungatana freed on bail in fake military tender case
TUESDAY AUGUST 18 2020
Former Garsen MP Danson Mungatana at the Kibera Law Courts on August 18, 2020.
Former Garsen MP Danson Mungatana and his co-accused in the fake military tender Paul Collins Waweru alias White have been granted a cash bail of Sh200,000 each pending ruling on their application to delay the criminal trial.
The two on Tuesday urged Kibera Chief Magistrate Abdulkadir Lorot to defer plea so that they can pursue a reconciliation with the victims of the fraud.
In the application, they want to be allowed to settle the matter outside court through alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.
They made the application that is likely to see them evade court trial in the 15 criminal counts leveled against them by the prosecution through lawyers Lynn Ngugi and Peter Wena.
“We have looked at the willingness of the complainants to withdraw the case. Justice is not only about convictions and sentencing of the accused. The Constitution enjoins court to other methods of reconciliation,” said Ms Ngugi.
The defence legal team also said the Office of Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP) had not shared the copies of the charge sheets.
Lawyer Wena told the court that he was surprised by the 15 charges since throughout the investigations police made him understand the charge against Mr Mungata was one involving obtaining money by false pretence.
“I am not aware of the other charges like uttering false documents and forgery,” said Mr Wena while urging court to defer the plea-taking
He explained that the out-of-court settlement is aimed to reconcile the parties and save judicial time.
But prosecutor Nancy Kerubo opposed the application saying the State is also a complainant in some of the 15 charges.
“The Ministry of Defence is involved as a complainant. Inasmuch as they want to reconcile with the complainants, most of the charges are by the State. This is a matter of public interest,” stated Ms Kerubo.
The charges facing Mr Mungatana and his associate include conspiracy to defraud, obtaining money by false pretence, forgery, making of documents without lawful authority and uttering false documents.
Should the application be allowed, the victims will be refunded Sh1.96 million that they gave to the suspects on diverse dates between July 13 and August 11.
According to the charge sheet, they obtained the money from Ann Wairimu Thumi and Cynthia Muthoni Kamau with intent to defraud.
They obtained Sh930,000 from Ms Kamau by falsifying Local Purchase Orders (LPOs) and letters of acknowledgement for expression of interest for supply of dry food stuff in favour of Beni Trading Company.
The letters were signed by one C.K Mundui and were purported to have been issued by the Ministry of Defence, the charge sheet indicates.
Other forged LPOs were purported to have been signed by the chairman ministerial tender committee, Ministry of Defence, a fact the accused persons knew to be false or untrue.
They obtained the second amount of Sh930,000 from Ms Thumi after they pretended that they were in a position of assisting her win a tender for supplying foodstuff and construction materials to the Department of Defence
Lawyer Ngugi emphasised that the ends of justice will still be met through the alternative justice mechanisms.
The chief magistrate will rule on the application Wednesday morning.
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