Court Releases Businessman Linked to Terror Claims After Denying Forgery Charges

An attempt by the state to have a Somali businessman denied bail on grounds that he is a threat to national security was declined by a Makadara Court.

The prosecution had sought to have Abdi Yusuf Ali denied bail claiming he had been using an identification card belonging to Abdi Yusuf Ali a brother to Abdirahman Mohamed Kuno alias Gamadhere.

Gamadhere was the mastermind of the Garissa University attack.

Investigators said Abdi was killed while heading al-Shabaab in Somalia.

Defense counsel representing the accused said the officer was ‘jumping the gun in giving his evidence’

Makadara Magistrate Agnes Mwangi said the identification card in question is a subject matter before another court and it would be unfair for her to act on the information provided as the accused is entitled to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

“I find no merit in that argument. Previous bond terms have been sufficient in securing attendance. The same have been maintained,” said the Magistrate.

She released him on bond.

The case will be mentioned on October 12 for pre trial conference.

Abdi was on Tuesday arraigned with forging a Kenyan national identity card.

He denied forging an Identity card bearing the name of Abdi Yusuf Ali. Abdi, according to the charge sheet, claimed his ID card was a genuine document issued by the national registration bureau.

The prosecution said the accused on diverse dates between July 14 1987 and 19 February 2008 in Nanighi sub location within Garissa County willfully procured a Kenyan identity in the name of Abdi Yusuf Ali by falsely pretending he was the son of Ralia Mohamed alias ‘the iron lady’.

According to the charge sheet, the accused on diverse dates between July 14 1987 and 19 February 2008 in Nanighi sub location within Garissa County willfully procured a Kenyan identity in the name of Abdi Yusuf Ali by falsely pretending he was the son of Ralia Mohamed alias ‘the iron lady’

He faced another charge of being unlawfully present in Kenya

The accused was first charged in court in April this year.

He was accused of defrauding one Hassan Ali Hassan Sh5.6 million. He obtained the monies by pretending he was in a position to import assorted cosmetics, Nutella chocolates and aptamil milk from Europe.

The offence was committed in Eastleigh on diverse dates between September 8 and 24 September 2022.

The prosecution later amended the charges which resulted in him being charged with additional counts on Tuesday.

This is the latest case of forgery of identity cards. Police investigations show the cases are on the rise.

According to preliminary reports, some unscrupulous government officials were colluding with foreigners to acquire Kenyan identification documents, posing a serious national security threat.

Read: Somali National in Court Over Forged ID Card

The detectives said a number of investigations by a multi-agency team is already ongoing to nip the scam in the bud.

The case has opened a flurry of more investigations into such claims amid fears more will be found.
Some security officials have also been accused of colluding with aliens to get into the country and also failing to repatriate foreigners declared by courts as unlawfully present in the country.

On March 30, for example, two Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) officers were arrested for failing to repatriate four Somali nationals who were found to be in the country illegally.

The foreigners sneaked into the country through Uganda and were arrested. The court ordered that they be taken back to their country and were handed over to the three arrested officers.

The foreigners were later released and found in the country.

A Somali national who fraudulently obtained a Kenyan National Identity Card was Tuesday July 11 charged in a Nairobi court.

Abdihakim Saidi Jama who has been in custody for the last 12 days appeared before Milimani principal magistrate Zainab Abdul and pleaded not guilty to the charge of obtaining registration by false pretense contrary to section 320 of the Penal Code.

The prosecution stated that between March 1, 2011 and June 3, 2011 while in Isiolo within Isiolo County in the Republic of Kenya, Jama jointly with others not before court, willfully procured a Kenyan National Identity Card number 29651299 in the name of Abdihakim Saidi Jama by falsely pretending that he were the son of Fatuma Mohamed of Kenyan National Identity Card number 00007005, a fact he knew to be false.

Investigations by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) revealed that Jama’s purported birth certificate which he used to acquire the national ID actually belonged to a woman.

A report dated May 17, 2023 by the National Registration Bureau (NRB) showed that the entry number L0090613/13 in Jama’s birth certificate belonged to Anne Gatwiri Kithure, the DCI said.

Following the allegations, investigations into the matter started where communication was made to the Secretary, NRB requesting for certified copies of the printouts in respect to the ID card and vetting minutes.