Police in Mombasa have released the identity of a woman who used her social media platforms to link former Mombasa Governor Ali Joho and his brother to drug trafficking claims.
She also linked the two to offense of defrauding the county government of Mombasa.
Matilda Maodo allegedly linked Mining and blue Economy Cabinet Secretary Joho and his brother Abubakar Ali Joho popularly known as Abuu to claims of having defrauded Mombasa county government of Sh40 billion, drug trafficking claims, and theft of containers inside the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA). The two deny the claims.
She is expected to take a plea on October 3 for charges facing her.
Mombasa senior resident magistrate David Odhiambo gave a direction that she takes a plea on the mentioned day and also ordered the suspect to appear personally in court for plea taking.
Matilda, through her lawyer, Michael Oloo, requested the court to have a warrant of arrest issued against her lifted after she failed to appear before the court to plead to the charges on Monday.
Oloo informed the court that her client (Matilda) was unwell and unable to appear before the court.
The magistrate set aside the warrant of arrest and ordered her to be released on a bond of Sh700,000 with one similar surety.
Alternatively she was ordered to pay a cash bail of Sh300 000 as she awaits October 3 when she will be arraigned in court.
According to police investigating the case, the suspect is a senior employee of the Grain Bulk Handlers Ltd which changed its name to Bulk Stream.
According to court documents the suspect in her statement to police stated that she is an employee of the company and had worked for it as a senior employee for several years.
She further informed police that information that she shared on her social media platforms was from a credible source and at the time she released it on her WhatsApp account she believed it was not meant to damage the reputation of Joho or his elder brother Abuu.
The accused is facing charges of publishing false information under section 23 of the Computer Misuse and Cyber Crime Acts.
According to detectives the suspect is believed to have used her WhatsApp to share false information about Joho and his elder brother following the nomination of Joho to the position of the CS on diverse dates between August 12 and August 15 2024.
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