Governor Korane freed on Sh3.25m cash bail, barred from accessing county office

Garissa Governor Ali Korane has been released on a Sh3.25 million cash bail or Sh5 million bond.

Korane has also been barred from accessing his county office and ordered to deposit his passport in court

Korane had earlier on Tuesday been charged has been charged with corruption at the Milimani Anti-Corruption Court.

Korane was accused of misappropriating part of Sh233 million from the World Bank-funded Kenya Urban Support Programme.

The governor and four others were charged with conspiracy to commit an economic crime of fraud.

They denied the charge before Chief Magistrate Douglas Ogoti.

In granting bail, Ogoti said he had considered the fact that there was no loss of money disclosed in the charge

Korane was also charged with willful failure to comply with the law relating to the management of funds.

The prosecution is not opposing bail but asked the court to give the accused stringent bail terms.

Assistant DPP Alexander Muteti asked the court to bar the governor and the other accused from accessing their offices.

Muteti says being barred from office does not amount to removal from office but it's just the governor being denied access.

But Korane's lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi asked the court to grant his client reasonable bail.

He argues that the prosecution cannot give conditions to the release of the accused saying the court should consider the presumption of innocence of the accused persons.

"There is no crime in this charge sheet. There is no charge that says the money was lost or stolen. We will show in the trial that there is no offense as claimed by the prosecution," he said.

"It's unfortunate that there is no evidence at this stage so that we can show the court."