•Gateri allegedly made a letter dated May 30 purporting it to have been signed by a Cabinet Secretary
•He is also charged with publishing a false statement intending to cause anxiety to the public
Image: FILE
A witness who sought to withdraw from blogger Dennis Itumbi’s forgery case was yesterday charged and released on a Sh 100,000 bail.
Samwel Gateri was charged in a Milimani court with creating a document without lawful authority.
Gateri allegedly made a letter dated May 30 purporting it to have been signed by a Cabinet Secretary in the fake conspiracy to assassinate Deputy President William Ruto.
In a different count, he was charged with publishing a false statement intending to cause anxiety to the general.
Gateri pleaded not guilty to the charges before chief magistrate Francis Andayi and was released on bail.
He was arrested on Tuesday by DCI officers in a Nairobi hotel where was meeting his lawyer Goergiadis Majimbo and taken to Shauri Moyo police station.
According to the lawyer, the officers arrived in the hotel in two cars. They neither introduced themselves nor stated the reason they arrested Gateri.
Last week, the DCI dismissed claims Gateri was among state witnesses lined up to testify in Itumbi's case.
Through their Twitter handle, the DCI said Gateri was under investigation and at no point was he lined up as a state witness.
But Gateri's name was listed by the prosecution in the charge sheet for Itumbi.
Earlier, Gateri had informed the court that police officers forced him to admit he had talked to Ruto in Itumbi's La Mada Hotel assassination plot case.
“Samuel Gateri is a man under investigation and at no point was he lined up as a state witness,” the DCI said in a tweet.
In an application filed under urgency, Gateri claimed he was arrested on July 2 by the DCI and the officers forcefully seized him and took his cellphones, national ID card and other personal items.
He alleged the officers threatened that they would take him to high ranking security personnel in government so that he could be dealt with.
In response, the DCI said all statements by witnesses in the case had been supplied to the defense team and Samwel Gateri was not among them.
The case will be heard on November 13.