A Nairobi court has acquitted three Dubai Bank senior managers of Sh12.6 million theft and money laundering charges.
Milimani chief magistrate Francis Andayi on Friday freed Abdul Hafedh Zubedi, Ali Bashir Sheikh and Wilson Hassan Nandwa accused of stealing the money from the bank in 2015.
The magistrate said there was no evidence to prove they committed the offence. The court further said the prosecution had not established any case against the trio to help put them on their defence.
"Since the prosecution has not established beyond a reasonable doubt a case against the three accused persons, l, therefore, acquit them of the two charges under Section 210 of the Criminal Procedural Code," Andayi ruled.
He noted that the investigating officer had not recommended the prosecution of the three as he had not found them in breach of any law.
The investigating officer had instead recommended the prosecution of Dubai Bank CEO Butt Binay and operations manager Dhiraj Kumar. Butt and Kumar have never been charged with any offence as they are still at large.
Andayi further noted that all the 11 prosecution witnesses who testified in the case cleared the three accused persons of being engaged in any transactions of over Sh12.6 million to foreign company Runway Entertainment Limited.
The witnesses said Zubeidi, Sheikh and Nandwa were not in any way involved in the opening and transaction of the millions of cash to the foreign company.
The firm that opened an account with Dubai Bank is said to have been a shell and had never existed in India.
The magistrate said no information was tabled before court to show that Runway Entertainment was a ghost company in India.
The prosecution failed to provide documents that could have shown how the three directors laundered the money using the ghost company as was alleged.
The three were alleged to have committed the offences between April 28, 2014, and September 14, 2014.
Following the DPP recommendation to charge them, Dubai Bank the bank was in August 2015 put under receivership.
The magistrate said the bank itself was not represented.
Andayi advised the state that in a case where a bank has been put under receivership and it has to be prosecuted, they would have sought advice from the High Court.
Lawyer Cohen Amanya welcomed the decision to free his clients, saying the charges were trumped up.
