A tea company director who was charged with forging a stamp and signature of a lawyer who died 11 years ago with intent to remove four directors of the enterprise from office appeared before the court during the hearing of the matter.
Mr Kirubi Kamau who denied the charges is accused of forging a stamp impression and signature of the late advocate Mburu Mbugua with intent to deceive that four directors of Central Highland Tea Company Limited had resigned from leadership.
The court was told that Mr Kamau forged the affidavits of resignations of Meshack Kibunja Kaburi, Daniel Wanjie Waruingi, James Njukia Ihura and David Macharia Gichure from the leadership of Central Highland Tea Company Limited.
Mr Kamau allegedly presented the four affidavits at the registrar of companies on June 27, 2019, purporting that they had been signed by the late Mburu Mbugua who had died in December 2008.
Milimani principal magistrate Geoffrey Onsarigo heard that the deceased lawyer Mburu Mbugua whose chambers were at Uganda House Nairobi was buried on December 18, 2008, at Ndenderu in Kiambu County.
A Directorate of Criminal Dnvestigations (DCI) Officer Schola Mwaura attached to Central Police Station Nairobi who investigated the case told Onsarigo in her testimony that the accused appended his signature and indicated his cellphone number on the returns he lodged at the company registry at the State Law Office.
Ms Mwaura presented a death certificate of the deceased lawyer (Robert Mburu Mbugua) and the Obituary published by the Daily Nation in her evidence in the case as proof that the advocate had passed on.;
The crime buster said she delved deep into the investigations and sought relevant information from the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) to establish whether Mburu had appointed any advocate to take over its operations in the event of his absence.
The LSK confirmed to the court that the deceased lawyer had not appointed any lawyer to act on his behalf when he was absent.
PC Mwaura the 14th prosecution witness in the forgery case testified that she established that signatures appended on the four affidavits of the directors were forgeries also.
Mr Kamau and the four complainants were all directors of the Murang’a County-based tea company.
Mr Kamau has denied 20 counts of forgery and uttering of forged documents and accused the police of maliciously prosecuting him, an allegation Ms Mwaura denied she “commenced the case against him in pursuit of justice”.
Ms Mwaura testified that a report of the forgeries of June 11 2019 was made at the Central Police Station by Mr Ihura after his Secretary Ms Jacinta Mwaura discovered the resignation documents filed at the registrar of companies.
Ms Mwaura who also testified said she was a secretary of Mr Ihura, said she sent an email via the e-citizen to check the status of the tea company but to her surprise, she was informed her boss had resigned.
Ms Onsarigo heard the four directors had not resigned from the leadership of the tea company and was utterly shocked to learn of their exit from the company unknowingly.
The signatures of the four Kaburi, Waruingi, Ihura and Gichure appended on the affidavits were taken to the documents examiner and it was established that they had been forged.
Mr Kamau has denied that on June 11, 2019, at an unknown place within Nairobi County jointly with others not before the court with intent to deceive forged stamp impression and signature used on affidavits alleged to have been sworn by Meshack Kaburi, Waruingi, Ihura and Gichure directors of Central Highland Tea Companies Limited.
The charges stated the affidavits were sworn before Mburu Mbugua, an Advocate and a Commissioner for Oaths.
The accused denied forging the resignation affidavits of the four directors.
He has also denied he uttered the alleged false documents on June 27, 2019, at the registrar of companies.
The charges state that Kamau knowingly and fraudulently uttered the forged affidavits and resignation letters of the four directors of the tea company.
The prosecution closed its case and Onsarigo set June 6, 2024, for tendering submissions by the accused person for no case to answer.