Businesswoman Mary Wambu has been charged with unlawful possession of a firearm.
Wambui was arraigned in court on Thursday, a day after her dramatic arrest. She faced a second count of possessing a firearm without a licence.
She denied the charges before Milimani chief magistrate Wendy Kagendo and was released on a bond of Ksh100,000 with an alternative bail of Ksh50,000.
The Purma Holdings director’s lawyers Nelson Havi and Kipchumba Murkomen had earlier protested the businesswoman’s detention last night.
They asked the court to release her on Ksh5,000 cash bail.
“The offense for which my client has been brought to court is a misdemeanour and it is preposterous that she had to spend the night in a cell,” Havi told the court.
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The pretrial hearing has been scheduled for January 25.
Wambui was picked from her Runda residence yesterday and taken to Muthaiga Police station for questioning. She spent the night in the police cells.
Apparently, the decision to arrest her was made when she surrendered her gun to Runda Police station on December 15, 2021.
She handed the CZ75 Compact pistol to authorities a day after the Firearm and Licencing Board said she was holding the gun illegally.
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The woman, said to be a close associate of Deputy President William Ruto, is facing another case in alleged Sh2.2 billion tax evasion.
The gun in question was discovered when officers from the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) raided her room at Weston Hotel.
The officers recovered Wambui’s handbag with personal belongings including identification documents and money.
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“In the process of preparing an inventory we came across a firearm licensing certificate number… issued to you by the Firearms Licensing Board. The said license expired on 17/04/2020,” the firearms board chairman Charles Mukindia said in a letter.
“By implication, you are illegally processing the firearm.”
She was on December 9, 2021, released on Ksh25 million cash bail, alongside her daughter, Purity Njoki Mungai in the tax evasion case.
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