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Gospel musician in court for defrauding county Sh28million

January 14th, 2016 2 min read

BY THOMAS WAITA

Gospel artist Faith Kithele, popular for her Kamba hits, was on Thursday charged in court with defrauding the County Government of Kitui Sh28 million.

The Ngeekia Kyau hit maker who is also married to the County Executive for Environment, Energy and Minerals Development George Mulatya denied the charges and was released on a Sh4million bond with an option of Sh300, 000 cash bail.

Ms Kithele, who has been in police custody for days, asked the court to release her on fair bond terms so that she could go home and look after her children.

The singer was arraigned before Principal Magistrate Esther Boke alongside businessman Alex Kioko who denied the charges as well and was released on similar bond/cash bail terms.

The two are accused of stealing Sh28million from the County Government’s recurrent expenditure account held at the Central Bank of Kenya.

DENIED CHARGES

The court heard that the two allegedly committed the offence in collusion with others not before the court at unknown place within the Republic of Kenya on December 28 last year.

Defense Lawyer Joseph Muinde, requested the court to grant the accused persons reasonable bond terms as well as direct the prosecution to supply the defense with witness statements besides any other documents that it would rely on during the trial.

Mr Muinde also requested the court to consider consolidation of the case with another related case, in which three businesswomen were on Monday last week charged with Sh 28 million theft from Kitui County Government coffers.

The trio, Ms Sarah Wangui Kamau, Ms Mary Waithira Gikungu and Ms Margaret Mutei Musee appeared before Resident Magistrate Rose Ombata on January 4 and they were each released on a Sh5 million bond with surety and an option of a Sh300, 000 cash bail after denying the charges.

Magistrate Esther Boke ordered the case to be mentioned on January 18 for consolidation of the two cases. Both cases are scheduled for hearing on April 10.