A Nairobi court Friday ordered the proprietor of Savannah Clinker Company Benson Sande Ndeta to remain in custody until Monday December 2 when a ruling whether to be released on bond in connection with a Sh700 million fraud and forgery at the company.
Ndeta who appeared before Milimani principal magistrate Gilbert Shikwe denied 11 counts including forgery, conspiracy to commit a felony contrary to section 393 of the Penal Code, Conspiracy to defraud, and making a document without authority.
The magistrate ordered him to be detained at Muthaiga police station pending ruling on whether or not be granted bond pending the hearing and determination of the case.
This was after the prosecution objected his bail application.
Through lawyer Cecile Miller, the accused person urged the court to release him on a lenient bond terms, saying he is a Kenyan married with children.
Miller informed the court that the amount in the charge sheet arise from a loan which his client took at the bank.
He told the court that his client has a living house in Karen, Nairobi county.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in a letter to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) directed that Ndeta and his co-accused, Charles Hill Jnr who was not present in court be charged with the offences.
The two also face charges of obtaining execution of a security by false pretenses, obtaining registration by false pretenses, obtaining credit by false pretenses and uttering false documents.
The DPP noted that there was no doubt that Ndeta and Hill Jr not only irregularly and illegally signed the corporate guarantee documents in a manner that clearly amounted to a forgery, but also presented the said documents to Absa Bank, which relied on the forged documents to approve and release to them the facility sum of USD35 million.
Hill Jr is an American and is currently based in the US’ State of Delaware.
The investigations showed the acquisition by Ndeta of the 4,500 shares in Savannah Cement resulted in directors Donald Mwaura Kiboro and John Gechanga becoming minority shareholders in Savannah Cement.
This led to boardroom wrangles and rivalry within the company as a result to which the two did not attend board meetings, a fact which made the confirmation of minutes and approval of board resolutions impossible.
The investigations found out that pursuant to an approval by the Board of Directors of Savannah Heights in a meeting held on 16th November 16 2017 and attended by the two directors but not Ndeta, Kiboro transferred 300 of his shares in Savannah Heights to Falcon Ventures Holdings LLC, represented by Charles Hill JR for a consideration of Sh700 million.
“The purchaser defaulted in payment of the purchase price, whose last payment date was 2nd February 2018, as a result of which the share sale/ purchase between Kiboro (seller) and Falcon Ventures Holdings LLC (the purchaser) fell through. There was thus no transfer of shares in favour of Charles Hills Jr,” the probe file says.
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