Kenyans who stood surety for the Akashas want properties back
Baktash Akasha Abdalla (left) and Vijaygiri Goswami during the hearing of their extradition case in 2016. Kenyans who stood surety for the sons of slain drug baron Ibrahim Akasha are fighting in court to recover property worth millions of shillings used in the transaction.
Kenyans who stood surety for the sons of slain drug baron Ibrahim Akasha are fighting in court to recover property worth millions of shillings used in the transaction.
Ibrahim Akasha Abdalla and Baktash Akasha Abdalla were extradited to the United States in 2017 to face drug trafficking charges. They were convicted and are serving jail terms.
In the latest developments, a woman is in court to get back her property used to secure the release of Ibrahim. Ms Rayan Mohamed Abdalla wants a Mombasa court to release her title deed, saying she had discharged her duty of ensuring that Ibrahim did not abscond his case.
“I have faithfully and dutifully carried out my duties as a surety of Ibrahim. Prior to his extradition, I had ensured he availed himself whenever required before this court,” said Ms Abdalla, through lawyer Khalid Salim.
Overtaken by events
The woman says in her application before Chief Magistrate Martha Mutuku that her duty of ensuring that Ibrahim attended court has been overtaken by events as he has been tried, convicted and jailed.
“I, therefore, seek to discharge my property for my own personal use, and the fact that my title deed is being held in this court continues to prejudice me and deny me my legal and equitable right to proprietorship,” she said.
Under a certificate of urgency, Ms Abdalla says the court has the discretion and power to prevent an injustice, hardship or miscarriage of justice.
Last year, two other individuals made a similar application to free their property whose documents had been deposited in court in 2015. The property was used to secure freedom for Ibrahim and his brother Baktash.
Title deeds
Court records show that Nurdin Akasha and Adil Nazaf Daud also want their title deeds released in an application made last year. Mr Nurdin is the half-brother of Ibrahim and Baktash. He deposited the title deed for his plot valued at Sh30 million, the bond term set for Ibrahim by the High Court.
Court records also show that Mr Daud stood surety for Vijaygiri Anandgiri Goswami. Mr Goswami’s whereabouts are unknown after he was extradited to the US and later became a prosecution witness. At the time the property documents were deposited in court, the three drug traffickers were trying to stop their extradition to the US.
In January 2020, Ibrahim was jailed for 23 years after pleading guilty to trafficking heroin and methamphetamine into the US, among other crimes. Baktash was handed 25 years’ imprisonment by the US District Court of New York on August 16, 2019.
The property owners argue that since the two were extradited, convicted and jailed in the US, they are no longer under any obligation to ensure their attendance in a Kenyan court as prescribed in the bond terms.
Discharge of bond
Their application is based on Section 128 (1) of the Criminal Procedure Code, which allows any surety to apply for the discharge of the bond at any time.
“In this particular case, I strongly believe that the court should allow my prayer since Ibrahim is in prison and convicted in the US. I, therefore, seek to discharge my property for my personal use,” Mr Nurdin said in court documents.
Not liable for forfeiture
Documents tabled in court by detective Joseph Wafula of the Anti-Narcotics Police Unit show that the property Mr Nurdin is seeking to recover is not liable for forfeiture.
It has also emerged that the US has not supplied Kenya with a copy of the judgment containing the sentences handed to the two Akasha brothers.
When the case was mentioned last month, the court heard that the Director of Public Prosecutions had not received a copy of the US court judgment.
Following their jailing in the US, prosecutors have filed a case to seize their properties worth billions of shillings, including palatial homes that they argue belong to the convicts.
The properties include a beach house in Nyali, Mombasa, eight gold chains, four high-end vehicles and assets of unknown value located in Mombasa and Nairobi and firearms.
The state claims that the properties are liable to forfeiture by the Assets Recovery Agency pursuant to the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act, the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act No 4 of 1994 and the National Police Service Act.
Ms Abdalla’s petition will be heard on September 30.
