Businessman in jail for trafficking women seeks bail
Asif Amirali Alibhai Jetha
Businessman Asif Amirali Alibhai Jetha, who is serving a 60-year jail term, wants the court to release him on bail as he fights his conviction on human trafficking charges.
Through his lawyer Jared Magolo, he pleaded for release pending the determination of his appeal against the conviction and the sentence.
But prosecutors have asked the court to deny him bond.
Jetha was jailed last year for 60 years and fined Sh5.1 million for trafficking Nepalese women.
He argues in his appeal at the High Court in Mombasa that the sentence is excessive.
The says the 12 Nepalese women he was convicted of trafficking came to Kenya voluntarily to look for greener pastures.
“The trial court failed to appreciate that evidence led by the prosecution did not support a finding that I was engaged in the promotion of trafficking in persons since I neither owned nor leased any premises or building for the purpose of promoting trafficking in persons,” he says in court documents.
Jetha also argues that there was no proof that he imported, exported or published any material nor managed, run or financed any job recruitment agency for the purpose of promoting trafficking.
The businessman, who holds UK and Canadian passports, has also faulted the trial court for associating him with Rangeela Bar, where the women were alleged to have been employed as dancers.
He says there was conflicting evidence on the proprietorship of the legal entity that operated the facility and that it was wrong for the court to directly associate him with its ownership.
“The magistrate engaged in speculation by connecting my travel’s itinerary to that of the 12 women,” he says.
The businessman argued that his travel and that of the women into Kenya happened at different times and that some of the women entered Kenya from Uganda.
He has also distanced himself from the money seized from the premises, which the state has categorised as proceeds of crime. He argued that there is no link sufficiently associating him with the money.
A Shanzu court last year found Jetha guilty of six counts, including trafficking 12 Nepalese women for exploitation at Rangeela Bar and Restaurant in Nyali.
He was also convicted of trafficking in persons, promoting human trafficking, interfering with travel documents, being in possession of proceeds of crime, engaging in business without a permit, and unlawfully employing foreign nationals.
The court found that he had trafficked the women by facilitating their travel to Kenya for exploitation.
