A Kiambu court has released on Sh250,000 cash bail each, 31 suspects accused of making false documents and abuse office at the central civil registration offices.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigation had applied to have the suspects detained for 10 days to allow further investigations but the magistrate declined the request.
Chief magistrate Patricia Gichohi on Wednesday said that the miscellaneous application by the DCI held no substance as investigations could proceed without having the suspects in custody.
Gichohi gave a cash bail with no bond on the condition that the suspects should not access any government office unless with the supervision of the police.
The suspects were directed to report to the DCI headquarters on Mondays and Fridays every week.
The magistrate said that in the event that the suspects are unable to pay the cash bail they should be detained in the various police stations until such payments are made.
The DCI has until November 14 to prefer charges to the suspects.
The suspects had appeared in court on Monday but were not required to plead as the police sought 10 days to complete their investigations.
Most of the suspects are civil servants who worked at St Francis Community Hospital in Kasarani and the Central Registry staff of the at ACK Bishop House, Nairobi offices.
The complainant in the case is the Government of Kenya through the Director of Criminal Investigation (DCI).
Investigating officer Evans Sang noted that the information held in the offices of Registrar of Births and Deaths at various hospitals all over Kenya is crucial for the case.
He added that the case was complex thus necessitating custodial orders to have forensic examinations done on the phones of the suspects.
The suspects were represented by a battery of lawyers led by senior counsel Eric Mutua who opposed the application to have their clients detained.
They said that the police have had ample time since 2018 to investigate the case and that an additional 10 days was an infringement on the rights of the suspects.
Interior CS Fred Matiang’i and PS Karanja Kibicho last week pitched camp at the Civil Registration Bureau (CRB) in Upper Hill to flush out unscrupulous staff at the agency.
