‘Newly married’ lawyer battling forgery charges pleads for leniency
A lawyer who admitted to forging a High court order has been slapped with a fine of Sh40,000.
Mr Ibn Nyarega was charged with forging the order that compelled the Nairobi County Government to allow a matatu sacco to operate over the Christmas and New Year holidays.
He was convicted on his plea of guilty by Justice Enock Chacha Mwita for forging an order purported to have been issued by him on December 19, 2023, and fined Sh40,000.
He pleaded for leniency saying “he has a weeks-old wife and cannot afford to leave her to go to jail.”
Passing the sentence Justice Mwita condemned the act of Nyabiba saying “his actions cannot be cordoned as they derogate the rule of law and a total abuse of the sanctity of courts.”
The judge further stated he would report the matter for further action by the police and the Law Society of Kenya.
Justice Mwita punished the lawyer at a time when the judiciary and the executive were at loggerheads over allegations of corruption.
He said Nyabiba should not have succumbed to pressure from the matatu sacco to deliver the “order at all costs”.
He equally said the Sacco would not escape and go unpunished as it exerted pressure on the lawyer to deliver.
“This act of forging a court document is serious as it undermines the rule of law and the court cannot seat and watch its authority being undermined by a party in a proceeding,” the judge stated.
He further stated the lawyer should not have bowed to pressure from his clients to deliver orders which had not been issued by the court.
Besides slapping Nyabiba with an order to pay a fine, Justice Mwita also condemned the chairman of Transliner Galaxy Sacco Limited Eliud Mangara Ondieng’a to cough Sh30,000 for exerting pressure on the lawyer to get the orders under whatever circumstances.
The Sacco was also slapped with a fine of Sh30,000.
In the suit filed under a certificate of urgency by Nyabiba, Ondieng’a had named Nairobi City County Government and Nairobi City County Chief Officer-Mobility & Works as the respondents.
Mr Ondieng’a had also named Transliner and Transline Sacco Limitted as interested parties to the suit.
As a further consequence, Justice Mwita struck out the case saying parties cannot be allowed to benefit from proceedings they have tried to master at the expense of their opponents.
Transline and Transliner Sacco were one company but have since parted ways and are now competitors.
“Young lawyers should be patient instead of resulting to criminal activities to get rich quickly,” Mr Ongoto for submitted.
“You forged my order to raise money to please your fiancée and also raise money the for engagement ceremony,” Justice Mwita asked the already shy-ridden lawyer.
Nyabiba only kept quiet but broke the silence by pleading for leniency.
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