The Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has refused to prosecute renowned Kisumu tycoons and owners of United Millers Sunil Shah and Kamal Shah who had been arrested by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) detectives over alleged of forgery, intent to defraud and a conspiracy to defeat justice.
The two are directors of the United Millers are accused of presenting forged and fake documents in Court in support of their case against BN Kotecha and Sons Limited.
In the charge sheets seen by this writer, Sunil Narshi Shah, Kamal Narshi Punja Shah, Henry Musyoki Kavita, Magnesh Kumar Verma, and United jointly conspired to defraud B.N Kotecha and Sons Limited Ksh79, 471,000 on April 2, 2015, by falsely pretending that they had lost business as United Millers Limited, to their clients a fact they knew to be false.
Read: DPP, DCI Boss Forced To Address The Nation After Kinoti Claimed Betrayal By Haji
The suspects were arrested in Kisumu on June 3, 2020, according to OB NO.39/3/6/2020 and brought to Muthaiga DCI headquarters the same day for questioning.
They were supposed to appear in court on June 4, but did not appear as the DPP also refused to prosecute the case.
According to sources, United Millers through their lawyer Mr Stanley Ibrahim Ogejo presented forged invoices in the names of several traders with the intent of deceiving the Court that the firm could not satisfy certain business orders allegedly occasioned by the dispute with BN Kotecha.
United Millers went to court seeking refund of their funds together with special damages of Ksh79 million which was supported by the the alleged fake invoices before the Kisumu High Court. Also, United Millers were demanding compensation of Ksh124 million and an additional Ksh13 million in interest.
BN Kotecha agreed to pay the principal sum due to United Millers of Ksh124 million plus interest amount of Ksh13 million.
This writer understands that BN Kotecha was in disagreement with the court findings and the manner of speedy disposal of the case on the Ksh79 million for damages.
Consequently, they commissioned a forensic audit with audit firm KPMG to authenticate the documents relied on by United Millers in support of their special damages claim.
In their findings, KPMG noted that from interviews conducted with the traders who United Millers had allegedly conducted business with, they all disowned the documentation presented by United Millers.
Based on this discovery, the trader lodged an official complaint with the DCI – Headquarters in October 2018 to look into the authenticity of the documents presented in Court.
From their investigations, the DCI found United Millers to have falsified documents in adduced them in court in support of their case.
To force BN Kotecha into paying the special damages, United Millers filed a bankruptcy petition against the company, even after BN Kotecha had paid Ksh39 million on the special damages.
Early in March, a similar incident happened in court after the DPP Haji declined to charge Kenya Ports Authority Managing Director Daniel Manduku.
Manduku was arrested on March 2, 2020 and spent a night behind bars.
However, a Magistrate’s Court in Nairobi ordered for his unconditional release after the DPP failed to charge him.
Read: DCI Kinoti Acquires New Equipment To Crack Phone Passwords In War Against Crime
The incidences have exposed the supremacy battles between the DCI and the DPP, who were forced to jointly address the nation, but all seems not to be well.
Under normal circumstances, the DCI investigates such cases the forwards the file to the DPP, who in turn advises on the legal action to be taken, either an arrest or more investigation to make the case water-tight.
It is not yet clear what transpired in the case involving United Millers directors, that has stopped the case from starting.
Previously, the failure in the war against corruption had been blamed against the Judiciary, but the recent developments point fingers to the two law enforcement agencies that seem not to be working in harmony.
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