Two lawyers in plot fleece Sony Sugar charged with fraud

Two lawyers suspected to have orchestrated a scheme to fleece troubled Sony Sugar Company in Migori county were charged with fraud at a Kisii court. 

Kerario Marwa and Samuel Odingo face separate counts among them forgery of documents with the intent to defraud the sugar firm of millions of shillings.

Marwa is facing seven counts while Odingo will answer to 11 charges.

The lawyers appeared before chief magistrate Ezekiel Obina yesterday but did not plead to the charges. 

They were were released on Sh100,000 bond and Sh50,000 cash bail each. 

Obina ordered them to appear before the court on September 12 for mention of the case.

Odingo is accused that on May 17, 2018, at Migori Law courts he made a verifying affidavit bearing names Elisha Ouma Opondo a judicial document purporting it to be what was not.

Security agencies say the duo had been altering contracts of farmers, some of them deceased, to file cases at Rongo, Migori, Homa Bay, Kisii, and Kehancha law courts. 

The scam was discovered after the Sony Sugar managing director Bernard Otieno formed a team to investigate the financial leakages through suspicious cases filed against the company.

Sony Sugar management says between 2014 and 2018, they had paid out Sh500 million with the claims before court likely to go up to Sh2 billion.

The management alleged that the money the company used to compensate bogus farmers was shared out by shysters and some Sony insiders who leaked vital documents.