Trader Parminder Singh Manku faces fresh probe in Sh1m theft case
Nairobi businessman Parminder Singh Manku.
Nairobi businessman Parminder Singh Manku is in the eye of a fresh storm after an Australian national sought revival of a theft case closed 25 years ago, one week after he was charged with stealing Sh71 million from his partners in a construction firm.
Mr David Hatfield has written to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Office of Director of Public Prosecutions and the Judiciary Ombudsman seeking to know how a magistrate’s court acquitted Mr Manku in 1997 on charges of stealing parts of motor vehicles that were on sale.
At that time, the businessman was trading as Kewal Contractors and the dispute between him and Mr Hatfield stemmed from a deal to sell trucks.
Mr Hatfield’s bid comes a week after Mr Manku was charged with stealing Sh71.5 million from his business partners at Westlands-based Elite Earth Movers Limited between August 5 and October 23, 2021.
Mr Manku was accused of stealing, forgery and uttering a false document to a bank claiming that he was the sole director of the company.
He was accused of forging minutes of a board meeting at Lalji Meghi and Company Limited Board on September 10, 2020, purporting to be the sole signatory of the company’s account at Standard Chartered Bank’s Westlands branch. He then presented the forged company resolutions to Standard Chartered Bank’s Westlands branch in Nairobi on October 7, 2020.
Mr Manku denied the charges before Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Robinson Ondieki and was released on a Sh1 million bond. The hearing is scheduled for May 11.
The complainants are Pravin Mavji Patel and Daxsha Pravin.
In the letter by Mr Hatfield to the authorities, it is alleged that Mr Manku, after signing the deal to buy trucks from the Australian national, he began stripping the vehicles for parts and failed to pay. Mr Hatfield says he was unable to repossess the trucks or receive payment as agreed. He was in Kenya between 1995 and 2001.
“Former DPP Bernard Chunga had studied the case and ruled that there was indeed a case of theft to be answered which led to a criminal warrant of arrest for Parminder Singh,” says Mr Hatfield. Mr Manku was charged with theft of motor vehicle parts worth Sh1.2 million in 1996 but a magistrate court ruled there was no case to answer.
Mr Hatfield went to the High Court in 1998 and the court ruled in his favour. He adds that the High Court file later disappeared and “a replacement had to be constructed”.
“I hereby respectfully request that the files be located and held at a secure location where a responsible official can investigate these matters as I seek justice against Parminder Singh Manku,” says Mr Hatfield.
Mr Manku was recently embroiled in another dispute with his former lawyer, Mr Ben Musundi, overpayment of a Sh15 million fee note.
The dispute stemmed from a Sh2 billion commercial deal between Mr Manku and his business partner, Mr Pravin Mavji Patel, over the purchase of shares at Elite Earthmovers Limited in 2018. The lawyer sued, saying, he was not paid for his legal services. He was paid in February 2023 after a court battle.
