Ben Gethi lawyer withdraws from NYS money laundering case

NYS suspect Ben Gethi's lawyer Joseph Wangara will no longer represent him in his money laundering case.

Gethi did not say why Wangara pulled out but told senior principal magistrate Martha Mutuku that he had not yet hired another lawyer.

The court was on Monday forced to adjourn the case against suspects including Gethi, Nairobi businesswoman Josephine Kabura and a woman named Jedidah Wangui, who is said to be Gethi's sister.

Kabura was in court but Wangui did not appear, prompting the prosecution to seek an adjournment but the defence team objected this.

Lawyer Ham Langat urged the court to compel the prosecution to produce Wangui saying they risked a re-trial.

“The accused is within the Kenyan jurisdiction and can be traced," said Langat. "The court is capable of giving orders for her to be availed, failure of which the prosecution should consider terminating proceedings against her."

He added that the prosecution's failure to produce the suspect was delaying the hearing of the case.

But the prosecution said Wangui was at large and could not affect proceedings against her co-accused since she was only facing one count.

They added that the defence would not suffer prejudice if the case proceeded without the woman, but said they were searching for her.

But Langat said: “No evidence has been brought before the court to show that she is out of jurisdiction."

The prosecution further argued that Wangui has never appeared in court despite the issuance of many warrants for her arrest.

The defence also wanted to be excused from appearing in court for all hearings and mentions.

Gethi’s mother, Charity Wangui also wants her appearance in court dispensed on grounds that the defence will suffer no prejudice.

Kabura, Gethi and others denied 15 counts of money laundering and were released on Sh300,000 cash bail each.

They wire accused of colluding to wire the amount from NYS coffers and using part of it to purchase property through phony companies.

They allegedly committed the offences between December 1, 2014 and March 2015.

The case will be mentioned on December 9 and heard on March 13, 2017.