Imenti Central MP Gideon Mwiti Irea. In the case the prosecution says Mr
Mwiti cheated and induced 12 complainants to deposit their money under
the guise that they would earn a monthly interest rate of 16 per cent.
By VINCENT AGOYA
In Summary
- Prosecution says Mr Gideon Mwiti Irea cheated and induced 12 complainants to deposit their money under the guise that they would earn a monthly interest rate of 16 per cent.
- MP said to be “feigning ignorance” about the operations of the Kenya Business Community Sacco.
A Member of Parliament who
investigators have linked to a pyramid scheme which collapsed with over
Sh780 million in members contributions on Monday disowned the company he
allegedly used to receive the money.
Imenti Central MP Gideon Mwiti
Irea told a trial court in Milimani, Nairobi, that he was not behind the
Kenya Business Community Sacco which the government shut down for
engagement in illegal banking business.
The MP was defending himself
before a magistrate’s court in a case of “cheating” where 12
complainants claim he swindled them of millions of shillings while
acting as the Sacco general manager.
“My role was purely consultancy…
I was a businessman in Nairobi in 2004 running a company called Kenya
Akiba Micro Finance Limited, I was only consulted on regulatory by-laws
being a lobbyist for a law seeking to regulate micro-finance
institutions and this climaxed with the enactment of the Micro-Finance
Act 2006,” Mwiti said.
In the case, the prosecution
says that Mr Mwiti cheated and induced 12 complainants to deposit their
money under the guise that they would earn a monthly interest at the
rate of 16 per cent.
The court was told that the offences were committed between January 12 and July 26, 2007.
He denied participating in the
registration of the Sacco, whose members took him to court, and
dismissed the case as “malicious.”
A government task force formed
to investigate the scam in 2007 linked the MP to Kenya Business
Community Sacco , Kenya Multi-Purpose and Kenya Akiba Micro Finance
which was recently awarded Sh2 billion for wrongful closure after the MP
went to court seeking damages.
The prosecution said the MP was
“feigning ignorance” about the operations of the Kenya Business
Community Sacco but he objected saying the only contact he had with it
was when he was consulted during its formative days. “It is a registered
entity and its officials are known,” he said.
Prosecutor Robert Kyaa suggested
to Mwiti that he knew the people accusing him well as they invested in
the scheme and entered into contract with “the organisation” officials,
but he denied ever making contact with the complaints.
“I did not see them... I was not
party to the day to day running of the business and I did not sign any
of the investment contracts,” the MP said.
He said the people named in the
case were “total strangers” to him while he only came to meet others in
court after his arrest in 2007.
No comments :
Post a Comment