• They are accused of forging businessman's signature to enable them get bank loans.
• They were charged in March and denied the allegations.
The hearing of a case in which three men are charged with defrauding the late Mombasa billionaire Tahir Sheikh Said (TSS) of Sh486 million begins on Wednesday.
Aweys Ahmed Mohamed, Zein Ahmed Mohamed and James Mwangi Mturi appeared before chief magistrate Julie Oseko on Monday but the matter was adjourned to amend the charge sheet.
Defense lawyers George Kariuki, Benjamin Binyenya and Alfred Wanga told the court in an application that the charge sheet was defective.
The magistrate ordered the charge sheet amended and directed that the trial be heard for three consecutive days.
The three were charged in March with fraud and denied all the charges.
Kariuki, one of the defense lawyers, filed two applications saying he needed time to go through the case documents which had been supplied to him by his client only the night before.
"I pray the court to note that I have not had sufficient time from last night to peruse the entire case," he said.
Kariuki said some documents had not been supplied by the prosecution including the statement of the investigating officer while others were incomplete.
He said the court had no jurisdiction to hear the matter as the properties mentioned were in Mombasa. He added that a senior officer from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions was among the witnesses and the one prosecuting was his junior, which could compromise the case.
"There is a conflict of interest because the case is being prosecuted by his subordinate," he said.
Binyenya argued that proceeding to full hearing without one of the accused's advocate, Cliff Ombeta who was in Kigali, Rwanda, would be an injustice to the accused.
Prosecuting counsel Alice Mathangani opposed the application by the three lawyers saying all the documents were supplied and lawyers confirmed to the court.
On jurisdiction, she said the law allows the magistrate to proceed with the case.
"He can go and apply to the High Court and raise the issues. The court can hear the matter even though the offense happened in Mombasa. One of the properties is in Malindi. The investigation officers are from Malindi," she said.
Mathangani said they were ready to proceed as the prosecution had four witnesses ready to testify but one of them was sick.
The magistrate ordered the prosecution to supply defence lawyers with all the documents and ensure the charge sheet and statements were complete.
Oseko dismissed the application that the court had no jurisdiction to handle the case, saying the counsel had not substantiated and touched adversely on the independence of the presiding prosecuting counsel.
The three suspects were accused that on or before the August 25, 2014 at Jane Wanjiru Kago advocates in Mombasa, they forged the signature of Tahir Sheikh Said on the letter of offer dated August 8, 2014 for Kenya Commercial Bank to enable them secure a bank loan.
In the second count, they are charged that on or before August 25, 2015, at Jane Kago advocates in Mombasa they forged the signature of Tahir Sheikh Said on a charge to National Bank of Kenya dated February 2015 to enable them secure a loan of Sh225,000,000.
They faced a third count of forging the signature of Osman Tahir to enable them secure a loan of Sh 255,000,000 from National Bank of Kenya.