A Kenyan man who is wanted in the US for money laundering has gotten temporary relief after the appeal court stayed the high court decision that allowed for his extradition.
Abdulrahman Imraan Juma had moved to the court of appeal seeking to block his extradition to the US arguing that the high court erred in its decision.
The court of appeal has stayed the decision pending the hearing and determination of the appeal filed by Juma.
The court noted that Juma’s extradition is imminent and were it to happen then the pending appeal will be overtaken by events and would be rendered nugatory if it were to succeed.
“Juma having satisfied the two threshold requirements under rule 5 (2) (b) of this Court’s rules, the Notice of motion dated 9th December 2022 is merited and is allowed," the court ruled.
In his appeal, Juma had argued that the high court erred in its decision by treating the matter before it as a revision when it was a substantive appeal.
Juma has argued that the judge did not consider the contention that the extradition bundle did not even have the extradition request without which, the extradition proceedings were irregular.
“The judge misdirected himself in failing to have regard to the very clear and explicit provisions of section 7 of the Extradition (Contiguous & Foreign Countries) Act, Cap 76 which sets out the proper procedures to be followed, but which were not adhered to,” he argued
According to court records, Juma faces up to 61 counts of money laundering, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
It is alleged that he is part of an international gang that conspires to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft by targeting unsuspecting business people who need loans.
The DPP had told court that Juma and his accomplices target business people based in the US and Qatar and hoodwinked them that they could offer loans worth millions of dollars.
