A Naivasha court has permitted the owner of Solai dam Perry Mansukh to fly out of the country for one week to attend another court case in India.
Despite the prosecution describing him as a flight risk, Naivasha principal magistrate Joseph Karanja directed that the multimillionaire facing 48 counts of manslaughter gets back his passport.
The businessman through his lawyer Evans Monari had applied to the court to be permitted to travel out of the court’s jurisdiction between August 9 and 15 for a custodial case.
Monari said his client had proven he is trustworthy.
“India is not a country at war and it has various Commonwealth interventions that can be put in place in case the accused decides to abscond,” he said.
State Counsel Mwende Kavindu, however, opposed the application terming the suspect as a flight risk since Kenya and India did not have an extradition treaty.
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In his ruling, the magistrate, however, noted that the petition by the defence had merit adding that the State had undertaken to verify the courts' orders but had failed to do this.
The other suspects in the case are
Winnie Muthoni (Water Rights Officer-Nakuru), Tomkin Odhiambo (Regional Manager WRA-Nkr) and Jacinta Were (Asst. Technical Operator WRA-Nakuru.
They have been jointly charged with the 48 counts of manslaughter, failing to prepare an environmental impact assessment report and neglect of duty.
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