‘We want our Sh25m back' - suspects in 2010 G4S heist tell court

A Mombasa court on Thursday reinstated a case in which four people who had been charged over the 2010 G4S theft of more than Sh313 million on transit want Sh25 million seized from them during their arrest returned to them.

Judge Ann Ong’injo recalled the case in which the four want the Sh25 million and other property taken from them during their arrest returned.

“The court is therefore inclined to allow the orders prayed for on conditions that the applicants will have just one opportunity to prosecute the application and have the matter determined expeditiously,” said the judge.

Mr Jacob Mutuku, Mr Sylvester Mbuli, Mr Amos Mutuku Musyoka and Mr Patrick Karanja want the money and other items including sofa sets, motor vehicles and fridges returned to them.

The proceedings in the case had been terminated after their lawyer reportedly fell ill and could not attend court to proceed with the hearing of the case. 

The lawyer then filed an application seeking to reinstate the proceedings so that the matter can be heard to its logical conclusion.

The case was reinstated in spite of opposition by G4S, which claimed that there had been an inordinate delay in bringing the application to reinstate the proceedings.

G4S had been enjoined in the case as an interested party. It has opposed the release of the money and exhibits to the four people.

Through Geoffrey Mwove, the security firm claims that it was the special owner of the money and items seized from the four men in 2010, who were implicated in the theft of the millions.

The company moved to the court barely six months after Justice Ong’injo directed that Sh25 million and other items taken from the four men should be produced and returned to them immediately.

The court was told that the Sh25 million was seized and recorded in the inventory but was not produced in court during the trial in a magistrate’s court.

But the security firm seeks to stop this directive, noting it would be greatly prejudiced if the directive is enforced without it being heard.

It has lamented that it was a victim of the theft that was the subject of a criminal case in the lower court, where the four and other suspects were charged.

However, the four have rejected this line of reasoning, noting that the lower court's finding that G4S was a special owner of the money alleged to have been stolen was only to the extent that they were found guilty of stealing.

The four men were found with the Sh25 million in a variety of currencies, including euros, British pounds, US dollars, and Kenyan shillings.

The accused were acquitted of several theft-related charges, including conspiracy and handling stolen property.

Following their acquittal, the four returned to court seeking the release of the money and property. In their court documents, they requested that the court order the police to return the items to them because they had been cleared of any wrongdoing.

They went to court after the police were unresponsive and unwilling to help them get back the money.

They claim the items were taken from their home on February 26, 2010.

"Unless the same is released to us, we are likely to suffer irreparable loss and damages. We pray that justice is served in this matter,” they pleaded with the court.

The police, however, argued that the four men should not seek to retain the items, which were seized and proven to be proceeds of crime.

It has also been argued that some 541,000 euros and 25,170 Swiss Francs, which were produced in court, had been released to G4S.

The police have told the court that the alleged goods and the money were not produced upon deliberations with the legal team.

The four are part of eight people whom the state had accused of stealing the money that disappeared while on transit from Mombasa to Nairobi. 

Others who were implicated in the theft but acquitted are Ms Eunice Mwende Musyoka, Mr Francis Kitonyo and Mr Humphrey Kabanga Njau.

They were charged alongside G4s employees Sylvester Mbisi Mutua and Humphrey Wekesa Wanjala, who were convicted and jailed for 10 years.

Mutua and Wanjala were crew commander and radio controller respectively.

The theft happened on February 12, 2010.

The two had been assigned to the Bank of Baroda, Standard Chartered Bank, Barclays Bank, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), and Kenya United Steel Company, to escort cash movement for the institutions.

The case will be heard on October 5.