A Nairobi Magistrate’s Court has postponed the plea taking of Abdullahi Maalim, a director at Sahal Agro Holdings Limited, who faces charges of conspiracy to defraud Sh 172 million.
Maalim appeared before Principal Magistrate Caroline Mugo following directions issued by High Court Judge Bahati Mwamuye. However, he did not take plea as expected.
The court declined to proceed with the plea, citing existing orders from the Malindi High Court that bar Maalim’s arrest and prosecution.
“As long as the orders from the Malindi High Court remain in effect, this court can not proceed with plea-taking. Doing so would be in contempt of those orders,” Magistrate Mugo ruled.
She reiterated that the ongoing protection provided by the Malindi High Court restrains any criminal proceedings against the accused at this time.
The court heard that the Malindi High Court case is set to be mentioned on June 18 for further directions.
According to the charge sheet, Maalim and co-accused Nyareru David Bosire, along with others not before the court are alleged to have conspired on May 19, 2021, in Mombasa to defraud Sh 172,202,000.
They are accused of preparing and registering a fraudulent lease agreement for land identified as Galana Ranch/Block 1/1 in favor of Sahal Agro-Holdings Ltd, allegedly evading payment of rental arrears owed to the Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC) for 100,000 acres.
Separately, Maalim faces another charge of forging a lease document for the same parcel of land between February 10 and 17, 2021, at an unknown location. He is accused of falsely purporting that the lease originated from ADC.
The prosecution further alleged that on May 19, 2021, Maalim, together with others not before the court, deliberately procured the registration of the forged lease document, falsely presenting it as a legitimate document issued by ADC.
The matter is scheduled to be mentioned again on June 23 to provide an update on the proceedings before the Malindi High Court.
