A Nairobi court has ordered the extradition of a Kenyan wanted in the United States for money laundering.
The court allowed an application by the DPP seeking to extradite Abdulrahman Imran Juma to face charges of money laundering, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
The court said investigations had been done by the US agencies and the witnesses were not in Kenya.
The court found there was no evidence produced in court that showed that Juma would not get a fair trial in the US.
“The prosecution has laid down the threshold for him - Juma - to be extradited to the US for a fair trial,” the magistrate ruled.
The court also noted that there were three fugitives currently being held in the US awaiting trial.
"The US will accord him a fair trial. I hereby allow the application by the state and order that he be taken to the US to face trial,” the court ruled.
Juma’s request to stay the orders of extradition pending appeal were disallowed by the magistrate because the court reading the ruling was not the trial court.
The court directed the matter to be mentioned on Monday before the trial court for further directions.
According to court records, it is alleged that Juma is part of an international gang that conspires to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft by targeting unsuspecting business people who need loans.
It is further alleged that on April 29 last year, the grand jury for the United States District Court for the Central District of California charged Juma with the violation of three counts of offences, namely, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and aggravated identity theft.
Juma is alleged to be part of a syndicate that orchestrated a scheme with his co-conspirators, who are already before the United States District Court for the Central District of California, to defraud a victim who was seeking a lender to invest in a project to build a school.
It was also alleged that he was found in possession of two passports, one of which was undocumented and he has several aliases.
Edited by Henry Makori