A Magistrate’s court Wednesday ordered a businessman accused of unlawfully detaining two passports belonging to a mother and her sick daughter after allegedly disagreeing over payment for visa processing services to produce them in court on Thursday.
Principal Magistrate Rose Ndombi also directed Jackson Kamau Ndegwa to process and arraign the intended visas.
Ndegwa appeared in court on Wednesday for plea taking, where he claimed that he retained the passports because the complainants refused to pay him Sh257,500, which he said was the agreed fee for the visas.
Ndegwa said the agreement was for him to procure visas for purposes of travelling to the United States, however upon completion the complainants threatened not to pay him.
He, through his lawyer alleged that the complainants involved the police to pressure him to hand over the passports without receiving payment.
He subsequently accused the police of being used to settle business transactions.
“The police have conspired simply to make sure that a civil matter turns criminal.”
“The court must stamp its authority that civil matters should not be brought to the criminal justice system,” Ndumbi was told.
He asked the court to release him on a cash bail of Sh10,000 pending determination of the matter.
The complainants opposed Ndegwa’s bail application, claiming that no services were rendered to justify the payment demand, and accused Kamau of attempting to extort them.
They alleged that after handing over their passports on August 7 for visa processing, Ndegwa became unresponsive and later demanded Sh450,625 for the return of the passports without providing any documentation of the services rendered.
“The accused has merely uttered verbal words without documentation to show any service was done,” the court heard
Ndegwa is accused that on August 7, at Uganda house in Nairobi CBD without lawful excuse detained two passports.
Ndombi directed Ndegwa to process and arraign the intended visas and released him on a cash bail of Sh10,000, with an alternative bond of Sh100,000.
The court will mention the case again on August 15 for further directions.
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